Formula 1 is already into the second half of the season but there is one race until it will feel like the first half is really over as the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix proceeds the traditional August summer shutdown.
The Hungaroring has undergone redevelopment ahead of its 40th championship race, with a new pit complex and grandstand standing tall at the top of the bowl on the outskirts of the capital city Budapest.
But who will celebrate opposite the new stand come Sunday afternoon?
McLaren out to continue dominance
As much as Max Verstappen tried to hang in the race for the drivers’ title this season, McLaren‘s form of late has seen the team extend its advantage in races, rarely troubled by other cars in normal conditions.
Oscar Piastri opened up his lead over Lando Norris back to 16 points with a steal of a win at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, with Norris no doubt unhappy with ceding his pole position to his team-mate on the first racing lap at Spa-Francorchamps.
But in reality the duo are evenly matched – Norris perhaps having the most outright pace between the two but unable to show the same consistency as Piastri, giving the Australian the edge.
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And arriving in Budapest, Piastri will be buoyed by the fact he emerged victorious here 12 months ago, albeit under a cloud created by McLaren‘s messy team strategy.
Piastri had been ahead for most of the race with Norris in second but, with the pack behind posing a threat to that one-two, McLaren opted to pit Norris for his second stop before the race leader, allowing him to undercut Piastri at the time.
Team orders played out but only after Norris threatened to ignore them, leaving it until the 11th hour to hand the lead back to his team-mate.
That situation came just as McLaren had begun to turn a page on its F1 form, returning to the top of the pecking order after difficulties under the current technical regulations. The pitwall handling of such situations has matured, the culture is strong, although the scenario that presents itself now is wildly different given the ongoing championship battle.
Qualifying will likely be a key indicator as to which of the two will be happier heading into the August break, though last weekend shows that there will be no team orders like there were here last term. Norris was given a contra-strategy in Belgium to try and chase Piastri down and for this, McLaren must be lauded.
But this circuit layout will present an opportunity for Verstappen, with the layout likely to assist Red Bull’s frailties with the current car. It is a venue that has been kind to the Dutchman before, with two victories in 2022 and 2023, while he scored unlikely points in 2021 with a chunk of his car missing after the lap 1 melee that year.
Ferrari could also go well here given its upturn in form recently, with the ‘Monaco without the walls’ nickname for the Hungaroring perhaps an indicator of a strong weekend knowing that the Scuderia has excelled in the Principality in recent years.
Could the weather play a part?
It took until 2006 for the first wet Hungarian Grand Prix but since then, we have been treated to a number of rainy classics at the venue.
We could have yet another this weekend if the weather forecast rings true, with rain predicted for Sunday after dry running throughout practice and qualifying.
That could present a number of interesting scenarios: how will teams compromise between the perfect qualifying set-up in the dry and the prospect of a wet set-up for Sunday, will the main protagonists stay out of trouble and, given what we saw last Sunday, will there be any wet running?
Race director Rui Marques came under fire for the lengthy delay after the initial race start was aborted for poor visibility in the Ardennes Forest, though he would have made every decision in the name of safety – especially with the recent history that hangs heavy at Spa.
The spray will not hang in the air as much at the Hungaroring with the lack of forest around, but we have become accustomed to a lack of lengthy green flag wet running in recent years, such is the danger of low visibility.
Another curveball will be the reaction to rain the newly resurfaced parts of the track will give: will it drain quickly? How slippery will the surface be? All of this is something the engineering teams will have to mull over in meetings over the weekend.
