It’s the place and the time for Lewis Hamilton to show he can still hit the high notes of his operatic prime.Of all the tracks where he has excelled the Hungaroring sits high on the shortlist of his favourites, along with Silverstone, Shanghai and Montreal. He has won here eight times, more than anyone else. And this weekend, the second corner, a right-hand kink, has been named in his honour.Friday’s data from practice offered him rich hope. He topped allcomers, 0.148sec in front of his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.All of which evidence, ancient and modern, makes it all the more surprising that last year this was the scene of the lowest point of Hamilton’s career, a trough so deep it seemed he might walk away from the sport.‘Completely useless,’ was his self-diagnosis after watching Leclerc take pole as he qualified a flaccid 12th. The disparity typified a malaise that persisted all season.Speaking on his return to Budapest, he referenced that dejecting nadir, saying: ‘I’m really proud of everyone in the team and of myself for digging us out of the hole I was in. It’s time for Lewis Hamilton to show he can still perform at his best as he chases an eighth World Championship‘One day when I release my documentary, I’ll reveal everything about that weekend and what led to what happened.’While we await that revelation, it can be stated clearly that he is in markedly better spirits and form 12 months on. His win in Barcelona in June, his first for Ferrari, is testament to this.His upturn, in a car much better suited to his driving style, makes him the nearest challenger to Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old protégé who replaced him at Mercedes. Hamilton is 45 points back from the Italian going into the 11th round of the season, the final instalment before Formula One’s summer break.Ah, fine and way better than the whole of his first campaign with Ferrari, but he is still to show he can reach the peaks every week necessary to add the eighth world title he craves as the final brushstroke to his self-described masterpiece.Yes, he outscored Leclerc by 53 points in the five races leading up to Silverstone. But Leclerc has held the edge since then. The Monegasque won the British race, two places ahead of Hamilton. Ditto two places ahead in Spa last weekend. Leclerc was also fastest in those two qualifying sessions.The Hamilton of old would, surely, have had the measure of Leclerc – who is dramatically fast but prone to mistakes under emotion – over the course of a long season when the title is at stake. He well might again but still has to prove he can at the age of 41.So to this weekend’s opportunity. First thing to say, Ferrari are favourites for the win. Their shortcomings, such as they are, lie in their relative lack of engine power and their strengths in aerodynamic alacrity through corners. The twisty Hungaroring, with just one decent straight, plays to their areas of potency.To elaborate on the practice charts that support the theory of red ascendancy, Leclerc was fastest in the first session by half-a-second over Hamilton before the British veteran turned it around in the second go, 0.148sec ahead. He returns to the location of one of the worst days in his career, coming last yearIn further good news, the Mercedes pair of Antonelli and George Russell, who is five points back from Hamilton, were off the pace and visibly struggling. They ended up fifth and 13th. Their prospects of maintaining their record of pole in every round this season are slim.In passing, if it is a big weekend for Hamilton, the same is true for Russell. He speaks with calm assurance as setback after setback assails him. His verbal resilience is admirable but he needs to assert himself over Antonelli on track, and fast, to dispel a nagging fear that his championship hopes are dripping down the windowpane, drop by drop.Whose nagging fears? His own mostly, one suspects, for all his bullish words. His confidence has not expired but lies in intensive care.He is helped in his task by the fact the technical gremlins that blighted him in Spa have been resolved by his Mercedes brainboxes in the intervening days.Away from the top, Aston Martin have brought a raft of upgrades to Hungary. My, they need them after what the team’s star designer Adrian Newey admitted had been a ‘complete nightmare’ season.The green shoots were, well, patchy. They clawed back some time relative to their previous sluggishness in the first practice session before Lance Stroll’s suspension failed him. Oh dear.Stroll sat out the rest of the day, while Fernando Alonso was 19th, 2.9sec off the pace. Newey talked of ‘respectability’ being their target in the mid-term, aware that loftier ambitions are unrealistic.He was asked if Christian Horner might be on the way to the team. As previously reported in the Daily Mail Sport, owner Lawrence Stroll is repeatedly keen to enlist the former Red Bull boss and has returned to seek his services more than once. Adrian Newey is remaining coy on whether Christian Horner (pictured) could join Aston MartinNewey, team principal, is less than mad on the idea of a reunion with his old partner during their glory days together at Milton Keynes.‘I keep hearing these rumours about Christian,’ said Newey.‘I can’t comment further. All I can say is we are happy with our senior management team.’Easy to say, Adrian. Papa Stroll’s judgment is subject to review. Nobody ever claimed the bluff billionaire has the patience of Job.