The body language said it all.

As Hamilton pulled up alongside Kovalainen in Parc Ferme the Finn was out of his car and bounded over to Lewis. He was excited to be P2, just two-tenths behind Lewis and ahead of Felipe Massa in third. He gave Lewis the thumbs up and as the Briton clambered out of his car they embraced. Ron Dennis bounded over to Steve Rider and Mark Blundell and pontificated on the one-two and how he was prepared for his drivers to fight for position at the first corner.

Recall what happened last year? As Hamilton refused to yield position to Alonso on the track the Spaniard blocked Hamilton's final flying lap. Ron Dennis frog-marched Alonso's trainer to the motor home (the trainer was complicit in the ruse by counting Alonso out of the pits) The press conference that followed was a predictably frosty affair and the stewards looked into the incident and (rightly in my opinion) dropped Alonso five grid places.

And we all know what happened then. Alonso threatened Ron by saying he'd reveal the extent to which spygate had infiltrated the McLaren organisation. Ron called Bernie and the rest is history. Although it all started in Monaco it was at the Hungaroring where tempers finally boiled over.

There is no doubt that in 2008 McLaren has the edge in raw pace around here. Lewis was on pole by two-tenths of a second and given his second run was barely faster than his first you suspect he should have gone even quicker.

Massa was the shining light of the Tifosi scoring P3. Massa actually posted the quickest time of the qualifying session with a 1'19.0 on the prime tyres in Q2. Kimi, on the other hand, continued to struggle. He could only register P6 and starts on the dirty side of the grid. In front of him are Timo Glock (yes, Timo Glock) and Robert Kubica. It is unclear what happened to Kimi — he claims an error on the final flying lap but he was always a good three-tenths shy of Massa in the other Ferrari.

And what for the race?

Unless it rains, which looks unlikely, the race could be a rather dull procession. It happened last year where Lewis almost complete the Grand Chelem (lead the race from pole at every point as well as recording the fastest lap) but Kimi pipped him for fastest lap at the death.

The first corner will be were the action is at. Lewis should emerge from the first corner with the lead — Bahrain excepted he generally gets away very quickly. It all depends on whether Massa, from the clean side of the grid, can edge ahead of Kovalainen. If not expect the Lewis Hamilton show once more with Kovalainen, who is probably more heavily fueled than Massa, allowing McLaren to control the race.

Barring some unforeseen drama, which this 2008 season is very capable of producing, it should be a routine victory.