Preview
F1 heads to the Hungaroring for the last race before the summer break. This 70 lap race is highly regarded as Monaco without walls with 14 difficult winding corners and 4 new straight line zones across the 4.381 Km track and with just 4 non DRS overtakes last year these zones could prove vital. Antonelli was asked in the post race conference in spa how he thinks the cars will perform in which he had this to say " I think all four top teams will be close ..... The deployment is going to be very healthy, so it’s going to be another track where it’s maybe a bit more like Monaco, where you just try to drive as fast as you can. If this is true we could see fierce battles at the top of the field.
Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most poles (9) most podiums (12) and most wins (8) here at the Hungaroring and could be the first driver to have 10 pole positions at a single track if he takes pole on Saturday. However whether he could turn that into victory is a different story as in the last 5 years here the driver on pole has not managed to convert it into a race win.
Heading into this weekend we have not seen the same 3 drivers on the podium in all 10 races so far this season with each race producing a different podium combination.Will this theme continue or will we finally see a repeat podium?
Kimi Antonelli the championship leader heads into this weekend in prime position after finally getting his momentum back with a victory last time out in Belgium after teammate George Russell crashed out on lap 1 and is really struggling for confidence as there is still no clear answer for his pace deficit to the young Italian who extends his championship lead to 45 points over Lewis Hamilton.
It's a big weekend for Mclaren who plan on bringing a big upgrade package which includes a revised floor and reportedly they are going to trial their own Macarena wing in FP1 which Red Bull and Ferrari already have on their car. The Papaya team have struggled in 2026 with reliability being the main problem but they have struggled to find performance compared to the rest of the top 4 teams but team boss Andrea Stella has still remains hopeful that the team can catch up "It's difficult to lean on the range of performance that Ferrari and Mercedes are operating in at the moment but hopefully as of Hungary we will start to see a bit of an acceleration in our competitiveness".
Predictions
Pole Position: Lewis Hamilton
Although no non Mercedes driver has taken pole for the Sunday race this season,the seven time world champion has been very successful around this 4.381 Km track with 9 poles here which is the most out of any driver and having found his form with Ferrari the Brit could have a good chance to take pole.
Race Winner: Kimi Antonelli
Having won in spa last weekend, Antonelli will be carrying that momentum into this weekend and hoping to head into the summer break in a good position. Furthermore everyone is predicting for Hungary to be similar to Monaco in terms of deployment and car performance and as Kimi blew away the competition during that weekend it's a safe bet to say that if everyone's prediction is correct Antonelli will have a good chance to take victory.
P2: Lewis Hamilton
With none of the pole sitters winning in the last 5 years plus with the assumption that Mercedes will be right there with the Ferrari's it will be a battle for Hamilton to keep P1 and unfortunately for the tifosi I don't believe that is a battle that can be won on race pace alone so I believe that Lewis will have to settle for 2nd best.
P3: Lando Norris
The reigning world champion has finished on the podium here 3 times in the last 3 years and last year he won the race with a brilliant strategy call to one stop which resulted in a tense ending with Oscar Piastri. In addition Mclaren are bringing new upgrades to the Hungarian Grand Prix to boost their competitiveness so hopefully this will be enough to compete with the top 4 and take the final podium place.
Biggest Surprise: Aston Martin
It has been a horrific season so far for Aston Martin who had big hopes coming into the season as they had the design god Adrian Newey on their team who has won 12 constructors's titles and 14 drivers titles and who had designed the most dominate car in history: The RB19. This is a vital weekend for Aston Martin's season with the first major upgrade package coming to Hungary with team boss Adrian Newey predicting a large step forward in performance with new aerodynamic upgrades and a significant weight reduction. With these upgrades, Aston Martin hope to reduce the gap to the front by half as right now they are currently 4 seconds behind the top 4 teams and 2 seconds behind their closest competitors Cadillac.
Biggest Flop: Max Verstappen
Despite winning this race in 22 and 23, the past 2 years here at the Hungaroring haven't been happy hunting grounds for Verstappen with him finishing P9 last year after just not having the pace and in 24 making contact with Lewis Hamilton while fighting for a chance of a podium but was only able to finish P5 in the end. Furthermore while Verstappen praises the track this almost always comes with criticism saying that this isn't Red Bull's strongest circuits due to their design Philosophy. So unfortunately it looks like this could be a circuit where Red Bull struggles but if anyone can find performance it's the flying Dutchman.
This should be an action packed weekend before the summer break but who will come out Victorious?
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