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Formula 1 Rolex Hungarian Grand Prix 2024 Race Start, Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. 2025 Hungarian GP Preview, Hungarian Grand Prix Preview, F1 Hungarian GP Preview, 2025 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Preview.
2025 Hungarian GP Preview – After Oscar Piastri scored victory to extend his World Driver’s Championship lead over team-mate Lando Norris in Belgium, round 14 of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Hungaroring in Budapest, Mogyorod, Hungary this weekend for the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2025. This will be the 39th edition of the Hungarian Grand Prix as part of the world championship. This ends the back-to-back race weekends with the Belgian GP before the sport’s traditional summer break.
2025 Hungarian GP Preview – A look at the Hungaroring
The Hungaroring is a permanent racing circuit in Mogyoród, Hungary where the Hungarian Grand Prix has been held since 1986. In 1986, it became the first Formula 1 Grand Prix held behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wanted a race in the USSR (now held in Sochi), but a Hungarian friend recommended Budapest. They wanted a street circuit similar to the Circuit de Monaco to be built in Nepliget, Budapest’s largest park but the government decided to build a new circuit outside the city near the major highway.
Construction works started on October 1, 1985. It was built in eight months, less time than any other Formula One circuit. The first race was held on March 24, 1986, in memory of Janos Drapal, the first Hungarian who won motorcycle Grand Prix races. According to a survey put together by the national tourism office of Hungary, Mogyoród ranks third among Hungarian destinations visited by tourists, behind the Danube Bend area and Lake Balaton, but ahead of Budapest.
The Grand Prix is held in the middle of summer, which is usually very hot and dry in this region. It’s very first wet Grand Prix race was in 2006. The circuit is normally dusty due to underuse throughout the rest of the year and its sandy soil. As the circuit is in a valley about 80 percent of it can be seen from any point.
Normally, an underused circuit becomes faster over the weekend as the track surface gathers more rubber; however, with the Hungaroring this generally does not happen, because the track can get dusty so quickly. The track becomes faster during a qualifying session, which leads competitors to try for their best lap as late as possible. Described as “Monaco without walls” by Ricciardo, the Hungaroring is also a circuit less reliant on engine power meaning the field could be closely bunched than in recent races. Teams run their maximum downforce packages in Hungary to cope with the many slow corners. The issue that will occupy the minds of engineers during the practice sessions is the need to maximise traction to get the best return from the many low-gear acceleration points.
The twisty and bumpy nature of the circuit makes overtaking very difficult in dry conditions. Nonetheless, the Hungaroring has been the scene of some several memorable races such as the duels of Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell’s lost wheel in 1987, Mansell’s win from 12th on the grid after a dramatic overtake on Ayrton Senna in 1989, Damon Hill’s almost victory with Arrows in 1997, Michael Schumacher’s change in strategy to beat the McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard in 1998 and maiden victories for Hill in 1993, Fernando Alonso in 2003, Jenson Button in 2006 in the track’s first wet Grand Prix, Heikki Kovalainen in 2008, and the second win for Daniel Ricciardo in 2014, overtaking the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Alonso’s Ferrari using very degraded soft tyres in the penultimate lap, grabbing an incredible victory.
The current Grand Prix circuit layout is 4.381km (2.722mi) in length and runs in a clockwise direction with 16 corners.
Race distance is 306.663km (190.560mi) with 70 laps in total.
Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record set at the 2020 event with a 1:16.627 in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W11 EQ Performance racer.
Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most wins at the Hungarian Grand Prix with eight to his name.
McLaren are the most successful constructor at the Hungarian Grand Prix with 12 victories.
2025 Hungarian GP Preview – Onboard Lap of the Hungaroring
Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Hungaroring from last year’s event, set by Lando Norris in his McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes MCL38 racer. The Briton posted a solid 1:15.227. You can watch the footage right here at the link: Lando Norris’ Pole Lap | 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix | Pirelli
2025 Hungarian GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2024: Oscar Piastri, McLaren Racing. 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021: Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team. 2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.
2025 Hungarian GP Preview – Tyres
Sole-tyre supplier Pirelli will be bringing with them to the Hungaroring, the white-side walled C3 (Hard) tyres, the yellow-branded C4 (Mediums) and red-marked C5 (Soft) rubber alongside the green-marked (Intermediates) and blue-branded (Full Wets) in case of rain.
Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two sets of the harder compounds.
2025 Hungarian GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be two DRS zones sharing a detection point 5 metres before turn 14. Activation points are 130 metres after the apex of turn 14 and 6 metres after the apex of turn one.
2025 Hungarian GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Piastri fends-off team-mate Norris to clinch Belgian GP victory
Oscar Piastri fended off team-mate Lando Norris to take victory at a mixed-conditioned Belgian GP as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three.
This was the sixth one-two finish for McLaren this season as Piastri extended his championship in the World Driver’s Championship standings to 16 points over team-mate Norris as the sport heads to the Hungaroring next weekend.
Due to the torrential conditions, the formation lap took place behind the safety car.
Race Control stated the ‘starting procedure is suspended’ before flying the red flags.
“Not ideal, I can’t see a lot behind the Safety Car so can’t imagine what it is like for everyone else,” said pole-sitter Norris.
With the red flags out, the Safety Car lead the pack into the pit-lane where they all park up in the fast lane. The rain had lessened slightly, but the track remained wet with reportedly another band of rain on the way.
Following a long hour and 20 minutes delay due to the heavy rain band, race control announced that the race will begin under the safety car. Mercedes told Andrea Kimi Antonelli that they believed there will be at least two laps behind the Safety Car.
The Safety Car lead Norris out of the pit lane. The rest followed suit. Everyone on a new set of intermediate tyres.
The FIA confirmed that this was Lap 1/44, rather than a second Formation Lap. And the spray was beginning to clear rapidly.
The pack remained behind the Safety Car at the start of the second tour. As Piastri confirmed, there are some wet bits but also plenty of drier sections to this long circuit.
The track temperature was 25 Degrees Celsius at this stage, so with the cars travelling round, the racing line should dry quite rapidly.
Leader Norris was out from beyond the Safety Car – moving to the right to get out of the spray. The Briton confirmed that off the racing line, it was still quite wet. That will make overtaking quite difficult when racing gets properly underway.
Race control confirmed a rolling start after the Safety Car came in.
When the Safety Car came in and the race properly began with the rolling start, pole-sitter Norris leapt away as the cars behind him wobbled when they moved out of the way from the spray.
Out of La Source, Piastri picked up a solid slip-stream on team-mate Norris as they flew through the Eau Rouge/Raidillon sequence and made a move on the outside on the Kemmel Straight to take the lead before reaching Les Combes.
On the sixth tour, Piastri held over a one second lead over team-mate Norris who reported a battery issue as Leclerc held third, Verstappen fourth, Russell up into fifth after overtaking Albon on the Kammel Straight, Tsunoda in seventh, the two RB’s of Hadjar and Lawson ini eighth and ninth respectively as Bortoleto rounded out the top ten for Sauber.
On lap seven – the intermediates looked quite worn after the earlier formation tour, but the drivers would want to get this setup until the crossover point. Piastri’s are marking up in the warmer conditions, and now Norris was told his team-mate was also struggling with his battery aboard his MCL39 racer. The drivers were already hunting for wet patches to cool their tyres during this stage of proceedings.
On the eighth tour – With the McLaren’s comfortably out-front, Verstappen was half-a-second behind Leclerc and desperately trying to find a place to overtake the Ferrari for third. Further back, the other SF-25 entry of Sir Lewis Hamilton picked off Williams’ Carlos Sainz for 16th into the Bus Stop Chicane, as Antonelli skated wide. And here came Hamilton again on his charge – around the outside of Les Combes, he got Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
Lap nine saw Hadjar holding up a little queue of cars in eighth place, whilst Gasly likewise looked slow = Hamilton overtook Hulkenberg this time around into the Bus Stop Chicane. The Briton was up to 14th with Gasly his next target.
The tenth lap saw this turning into a two-horse race, as Leclerc continued to frustrate Verstappen. Piastri was 1.7 seconds clear of team-mate Norris, who in turn was 5.5 seconds ahead of Leclerc.
Further back, Hamilton picked off Gasly last time around as well into Stavelot. The two Haas cars were next for the seven-time world champion.
On the next tour – Verstappen had a look around the outside of Leclerc into Pouhon. But Leclerc slams the door shut on the RB21 – he’s was having none of that.
On the 12th tour, Hamilton was the first to pit for a set of C3 mediums as did Hulkenberg, Gasly and Alonso as all emerged at the rear.
A lap later, race leader Piastri pitted for C3 yellow-branded mediums whilst Norris remained out – likewise Verstappen, Russell, Albon and Lawson.
Norris, Tsunoda, Hadjar and Ocon all then pitted on lap 14 with the former putting on a set of the C1 harder compound to run to the end – Norris emerged over eight seconds behind Piastri in second.
On the 15th lap – Behind the two McLaren’s – Leclerc remained third in-front of Verstappen and Russell. Hamilton was the big gainer, up to seventh in the order ahead of Lawson.
Hadjar lost out hugely, he was down to 15th whilst Ocon was at the rear. Tsunoda also lost out, staying out one more lap proved very costly for the Japanese driver and was down in 12th.
During the pit-stops Verstappen lost time in the pits, instead of being all over Leclerc, he was defending hard from Russell. Half-a-second between the duo. Hamilton had DRS on Albon in the battle for sixth, so he could join the Verstappen fight soon.
Lap 17 – the situation was that Piastri was trying to make it to the end apparently. So, he would have to manage his tyres more than Norris, especially in the later stages – with the gap is 9.1 seconds as it stood. The question was would free air aid Piastri? Norris will have DRS if he closes in on his team-mate.
On the 18th tour – Norris was much more confident to push his tyres and took three tenths out of his race leading team-mate Piastri that time around.
Behind them, Leclerc had just over a second to Verstappen, as Russell has now dropped back slightly. Albon was keeping Hamilton at bay too.
On lap 20, on the Kemmel Straight Hulkenberg switched places with team-mate Bortoleto for the latter to charge at the RB of Lawson in-front of him.
At half race distance, Piastri’s lead over McLaren team-mate Norris was at 8.108 seconds with Leclerc a distant third, Verstappen fourth, Russell fifth, Albon sixth, Hamilton seventh, Lawson eighth as the two Sauber’s of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg completed the top ten runners.
Piastri also reported to his team that it will be tough for the mediums to make it to the end.
On the 23rd tour – further back, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll made short work of Colapinto for 16th as the latter’s team-mate Gasly was holding a DRS train with Tsunoda, Bearman, Alonso and Antonelli all right behind the Frenchman.
Lap 24 in the battle for the lead – Piastri remained 8.3 seconds ahead of his team-mate Norris. If he was pitting, he would have to decide soon so he can build as big a gap as possible.
On lap 25 – Norris posted a new fastest lap, and that brought the gap to his team-mate Piastri down to just 8.1 seconds.
The 26th lap saw Norris take a few more tenths out of Piastri. The gap was not coming down fast enough for Norris to breeze past unless Piastri’s tyres hit the cliff. The pit-stop loss if Piastri was to come in again was at 19 seconds.
On the 27th lap – Leclerc was holding Verstappen at bay in the fight for third, Russell had dropped off the back of the pairing, Albon was holding on too in sixth place. But Hamilton’s tyres are starting to work through their graining, and the Ferrari driver’s pace was picking back up – he was 1.5 seconds back from Albon.
But Norris ran wide through Pouhon, and the gap went back up to 9.3 seconds.
Lap 29 – If McLaren did opt to bring Piastri in, when would they do so? It would need to be soon – as we know from the Sprint Race that the mediums last 15 tours easily. The Australian was 9.2 seconds ahead of Norris at this stage of proceedings.
On lap 30, Piastri’s lead over team-mate Norris was at 8.5 seconds with the latter the quickest out on track, Leclerc was further back in third, Verstappen fourth, Russell fifth, Albon sixth, Hamilton seventh, Lawson eighth and the Sauber pairing of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.
On the 32nd tour – The gap is coming down was continuing to fall as Norris setting another quick lap – that gap was at 8.1 seconds, Norris was closing in on Piastri by at least a tenth a lap, and sometimes by like four tenths.
Lap 33 – If Piastri stopped now, he would be a good 11 seconds behind Norris, assuming he had no issues in the pits. And that would land the Australian right around Leclerc, with the worst-case scenario being stuck behind the Ferrari – Piastri’s race engineer suggested it’s best to stay out until the end. Further back, Hamilton still had DRS on Albon, as the Williams driver defended hard.
On lap 34, A small lock-up for Norris at La Source saw the Briton lose half-a-second in the first sector alone giving his leading team-mate a tad of breathing space.
On the 35th lap – The situation was that six drivers have pitted twice, the rest were hanging this out for a one-stop strategy – Norris was told that his tyres were “getting tricky” but that he was “naturally quicker.”
The gap out-front was 7.9 seconds. In the end, Norris lost eight tenths of a second last time around thanks to that lock-up at La Source.
Lap 37 saw Piastri was potentially going to catch Hadjar soon, which won’t help the McLaren driver’s cause. The gap dipped under seven seconds; Norris was six tenths faster again last time around.
Further back, Hamilton was falling back from Albon now, as he was asked to lift and coast. Not ideal for him, the Ferrari man was still in seventh place.
On lap 38 – Another chunk of Piastri’s lead disappeared. Seven tenths that time round to Norris. The lead was down to 6.2 seconds, but the laps were ticking down. Piastri caught Hadjar that time round.
With six laps remaining in the battle for third – Leclerc has had a moment, and that allowed Verstappen to close up to just outside DRS range. Leclerc was being coached and encouraged by his race engineer as the Monegasque driver said: “Leave me alone please.”
With five tours remaining – Hadjar got well out of the way of Piastri, and that was likely the only car for the race leader to overlap. But the gap has come down as Norris gets DRS assistance behind Hadjar.
With four laps left, the gap upfront was sitting at 4.4 seconds. Norris four tenths faster on that last tour.
Three laps remaining, Norris was continuing to fly as the Briton brought the gap down to 3.1 seconds.
On the penultimate tour, Norris once again suffered a lock-up into La Source as the gap to his race leading team-mate Piastri fell to 4.697 seconds.
Piastri crossed the line to take the Belgian GP victory by 3.415 seconds over team-mate Norris as Leclerc rounded out the podium places in third.
Verstappen followed in fourth and ahead of Russell who was fifth, Albon who took sixth and Hamilton who placed seventh in the classification.
Lawson was next in eighth as Bortoleto and Gasly completed the final points places.
2025 Hungarian GP Preview – The Situation
Formula 1 heads to the Hungaroring for the Hungaroring the final round before the sport’s summer break.
Oscar Piastri struck back at the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps with an incredible performance on his way to victory in mixed conditions to extend his lead over team-mate Lando Norris in the World Drivers’ Championship to 16 points.
A year ago, both drivers were locked into an intense fight for the win where Norris was persuaded to let Piastri through and win the Grand Prix after the team’s strategy put Norris into the lead.
Norris gave the green light to let Piastri take his maiden F1-career victory and now the duo are in a battle for the title, which could go down to the wire.
Belgium suggested that it would be a two-man race for the championship after Max Verstappen settled for fourth place behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who claimed his fifth podium of the campaign.
Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget at the Belgian GP with two early eliminations in both qualifying sessions, so the Briton will be aiming to bounce back at the Hungaroring, a circuit where he has won the most times than anyone with eight victories.
Piastri returns to Hungary sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 266 points and a 16-point lead over McLaren team-mate Norris who is second on 250 points, whilst reigning world champion Verstappen is a further 81 adrift of the Dutchman on 185 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team head to the Hungaroring in P1 of the World Constructors Championship with 516 points and a 268-point advantage over nearest rivals Scuderia Ferrari who are second on 248 points, whilst Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team are a further 296 off the Woking based-outfit on 220 points.
Click here for the 2025 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.
The Formula 1 Lenovo Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 weekend begins Friday August 1 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday August 2 and the 70 lap Race Sunday August 3.
