MOTOR SPORT/Hungarian Grand Prix: Each season in Formula One seems to develop a theme. Over the past few seasons the prevalent sound has been of the German national anthem as Michael Schumacher has walked to the top of the podium again and again.

But there were always counter-melodies. Last year it was BAR's spring bloom and Renault's Indian summer. The year before it was Juan Pablo Montoya's ultimately doomed assault on Schumacher's crown, a charge destroyed by a row about tyres and a Ferrari resurgence.

This year the theme has been one of the fade out of Ferrari's victory march and also the recurring boom of McLaren engines popping like balloons at a party. A party being thrown almost every weekend for Renault's Fernando Alonso.

And so it goes in Hungary. Mercedes-powered McLaren yesterday blitzed their rivals in free practice, and the championship's second-placed man, Kimi Raikkonen, finished third and as the highest placed race driver: only Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta and McLaren tester Alex Wurz beat his time, both running on different fuel loads.

Further back was championship leader Alonso, mired in eighth, casting envious glances in the direction of McLaren and marvelling at the pace of his major rivals' car, which is the single biggest threat to his chances of becoming Formula One's youngest champion at the tender age of 24, a landmark the Spaniard reached yesterday.

But over it all played the leitmotif of the latter half of this season. Will Raikkonen's McLaren go the distance? Will his again be a race full of sound and fury but signifying nothing other than capitulation at the crucial moment? The Finn plays an electric opening movement but invariably in recent weeks has handed the finale to Alonso. The Renault driver closes it out and accepts all the applause as Raikkonen exits stage left, aggrieved and disheartened.

So will it be the same in Hungary? The track lacks the power demands of even a modified Hockenheim. It's tight and twisting here, often likened to a Monaco without the barriers. In the principality, Raikkonen romped to victory, leaving Alonso spluttering in his wake in fourth, the worst finish of the Renault star's season.

But it's infinitely hotter here, a crucial factor for fragile powerplants like the Mercedes. Yesterday, the Hungaroring sweltered in 36 degree heat. The forecast for today is worse, with the thermometer predicted to sneak over 40 degrees. Something's got to give.

Alonso is the less likely to wilt. This is, after all, the scene of his first grand prix victory, a crushing display in 2003 in which he even managed to lap Schumacher. Alonso is a bruising opponent. He will not succumb with a whimper.

Yesterday, though, he sounded a note of heavy caution, the first time this year he has openly questioned his team.

After finishing yesterday 1.2 seconds adrift of Raikkonen, he begged for more power.

"In terms of our competitiveness, we don't seem particularly quick at the moment, but you never know what fuel loads other people are running," said Alonso. "We need to just concentrate on our programme, make the tyre choice and find some ways to improve the speed of the car."

Raikkonen, meanwhile, was being his usual stoic self. He's over his most recent race exit, he explained. No, it doesn't make him want to leave the team in a quest for reliability. Yes, the title is still possible, just.

"It's going to be difficult," he said. "I haven't given up, but you need to be realistic. So let's see what we can do and just win some races, and then go from there."

And so the band strikes up again. The question remains, will the Finn play the final notes tomorrow or will he once again be playing the blues.