Rain is expected for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, but it looks set to be a dry race north of Budapest with the forecast also adding in more interesting factors to the new ‘alternative tyre allocation’ qualifying format that’s being trialled.
It looks like a scorching weekend in Hungary, as is often the case at the height of summer, which will bring its own problems for tyre management but also could alleviate some concerns over the new Saturday schedule.
Max Verstappen goes for his seventh successive win in Formula 1 – the last time he failed to win a race was April – and it doesn’t look like the weather will play a huge part in stopping him.
Friday: Practice 1 and 2
Friday’s set to be a stormy one, with the chance of rain sitting at a sky-high 80% for FP1, and over 70% for FP2.
There’s even been thunderstorms predicted by some forecasts for the afternoon, which could halt any running if conditions are truly undrivable.
However, these conditions don’t look set to be repeated over the weekend meaning it could be a bit of a washout in terms of meaningful preparation for the competitive sessions.
Despite the heavy rain expected the wind isn’t expected to reach double figures around the hilly circuit which will be a relief to drivers, while the temperature is the coolest it gets all weekend at around 25 degrees Celsius.
Saturday, Practice 3 and Qualifying
This is where the fun starts. Saturday’s likely (though not guaranteed) to be dry – with most forecasts estimating no more than a 10% chance of rain.
There’s a slight chance of something at the very end of qualifying, but don’t bank on it.
This does mean that FP3 will likely be very busy as teams try to cram three hours of dry running into just 60 minutes.
The temperatures set to rise up to 28 for qualifying which should alleviate concerns about tyre temperature on the hards in Q1.
Teams were worried it’d be difficult to get them warmed up at the Emilia Romagna GP, where the format was meant to be trialled, but there should be no such issues at the Hungaroring.
Sunday, Race
The mercury continues to rise for Sunday, it’ll likely be at or above 30 degrees for the grand prix. So tyre wear could well be an issue – watch out Ferrari – but there’s a 0% chance of rain for race time.
Wind shouldn’t be a factor – again – while humidity is also manageable at likely less than 50%.
