In Pictures: Hungary 2024

Drama, controversy, and politics at the Hungarian Grand Prix!

After a short break following three back-to-back races, the Formula 1 family headed to Hungary for a double-header on two tracks that could not be more different: the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps.

The Hungarian Grand Prix is now a classic long-term fixture on the calendar. Cars must run with a high level of aerodynamic downforce, almost on par with Monaco. In contrast, the following week in Belgium, aero efficiency is vital for competitiveness through high-speed corners and down the long straights. These two venues also differ greatly in terms of weather. Summer is generally much hotter in Hungary than in Belgium, although, in recent years, rain has occasionally made an appearance during the Budapest weekend.

The Hungaroring is very twisty, with only one real straight that includes the start-finish line. This straight provides the most likely, if not the only, overtaking opportunity. There are 14 corners, six to the left and eight to the right, some of which are 180° turns. The track climbs and drops, and its 4.381 kilometres make it one of the shortest on the calendar, almost the opposite of Spa, which at seven kilometres is the longest. All those turns mean the drivers have no time to take a breather over the 70-lap race distance. There are two DRS zones: one on the start-finish straight and the other, much shorter, on the descent from turn 1 to turn 2, with just one detection zone before the entry into the final corner.

The Hungaroring is a permanent race track, but it does not get much use, which is why grip levels increase significantly as the track gets rubbered-in. This year, this will be even more likely since there was no track activity for a longer time than usual while the facility was modernised, with the first phase completed only in May. Graining could therefore become an issue, especially in the first couple of sessions.

The toughest turn for the braking system at the Hungaroring is the first one, where the cars decelerate from 310 km/h to 96 km/h in 2.6 seconds, covering 122 meters. The effort required from the drivers in these moments is significant: they experience a maximum deceleration of 4.5 g and need to apply 160 kg of force on the brake pedal. The braking power is 2,289 kW.

The Hungarian Grand Prix first appeared on the calendar in 1986, the first Formula 1 event to be held behind the then already shaky Iron Curtain. It has been part of the championship ever since, attracting many fans from countries like Finland and Poland, for whom the Hungaroring became the nearest venue at which to cheer on their fellow countrymen—such as Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen, and Robert Kubica—in person. At a track where overtaking is no easy task, qualifying takes on great importance, which explains why 16 of the 38 editions to date have been won by the pole-sitter, and only four times has it been won by a driver who started from lower than the second row of the grid.

FRIDAY

Friday in Budapest saw the third highest recorded track temperature since Pirelli returned to Formula 1 in 2011. The 59.7°C seen in FP1 has only been surpassed by the 60°C at the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix and the 61°C in the first free practice at the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix.

There was a significant temperature difference of between 10 and 15°C between today's two sessions, exaggerated by partial cloud cover in the second hour.

Regarding tire use, one important consideration concerns the Hard tire, which was only used on Friday by Ferrari and Aston Martin in FP1, and by McLaren in FP2. This meant these three teams had only one set of this specification available for the race, as it was mandatory to have at least one set of Medium and one set of Hard tires.

Lando Norris was quickest at the end of the first day of the Hungarian Grand Prix. The McLaren driver was the only one to get under the 1:18 barrier, with a best time of 1:17.788 in the second session. Behind him were Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1:18.031) and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1:18.185). The Spaniard had been quickest in the first session with a lap of 1:18.713, followed by Verstappen (1:18.989) and Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari (1:19.011). FP2 had to be red-flagged and stopped for 16 minutes following a spectacular accident when Leclerc lost the rear of his Ferrari, crashing the back of the car into the barriers at high speed.

SATURDAY

The weather was very different compared to Friday. Right from the third free practice session, the temperatures were much lower, especially on the track, which was over 20°C cooler than in FP1. Furthermore, rain appeared just before qualifying and then reappeared occasionally, but the track never got wet enough to require the use of intermediate tires.

In FP3, almost all the teams focused on preparing for qualifying, running the Soft compound. There were two exceptions: Red Bull Racing, who used the Hard, including over a long run, and Aston Martin, who also used a set of Mediums.

Qualifying did not run particularly smoothly, partly because of the changing weather and partly because of two red flag periods. The first red flag occurred when Sergio Perez went off in Q1, and the second was when Yuki Tsunoda crashed in Q3. The Soft was the only compound used, and, as expected, peak performance was delivered on the first timed lap. The drop in temperature made it easier for the drivers to manage the C5 on a flying lap, improving the balance of the car across the two axles and reducing overheating of the rear tires, which was particularly significant yesterday in the final sector.

After qualifying was completed, it was an all-McLaren front row for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Lando Norris (1:15.227) on pole ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri by just 22 thousandths (1:15.249). This was the Englishman’s third pole position, following his previous ones in Sochi in 2021 and Barcelona this year. The last time McLaren locked out the front row was at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, with two world champions, Lewis Hamilton on pole and Jenson Button alongside him. It is the team’s 158th pole position and its tenth at the Hungaroring, the last one dating back to 2012, courtesy of Hamilton. On the second row of the grid were Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, third with a time of 1:15.273, just 46 thousandths of a second slower than Norris, and Carlos Sainz fourth for Ferrari, 469 thousandths down.

SUNDAY

The race started with Piastri immediately attacking Norris, while Verstappen took advantage, leading to the three drivers entering turn one side by side. With no room for all three cars, Verstappen ran wide, rejoining ahead of Norris, both behind Piastri in first.

On Lap 4, the Red Bull team, fearing a possible penalty, asked Verstappen to give the place back to Norris, to which the Dutchman complied, though not without voicing his opinion on the radio.

When the time came for the second round of stops, McLaren decided to pit Norris first, seemingly to cover off Lewis Hamilton, who was some 29 seconds behind. Norris took the lead when the team pitted Piastri two laps later.

Behind them, an unhappy Verstappen tried several times to pass Hamilton. With the help of DRS on his RB20, he attempted a move at the end of the main straight but locked both front tires, making contact with Hamilton’s Mercedes and sending the Dutchman into the air in spectacular fashion.

This contact hindered Verstappen from further pursuing Hamilton, causing him to lose fourth place to Ferrari’s Leclerc.

Up ahead, more drama unfolded as the team insisted, lap by lap, for Norris to hand the place back to Piastri. The Briton complied by slowing down at the start-finish straight on lap 68, giving Piastri the lead and his eventual maiden race win.

In the end, it was a McLaren one-two in qualifying on Saturday and the same again on Sunday in the race. That’s the headline from the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Oscar Piastri secured his maiden Formula 1 win, while Lando Norris started from pole and finished behind the Australian. Lewis Hamilton made it to the third step of the podium, recording his 200th top-three finish from 345 Formula 1 Grand Prix starts, a hit rate of 57.97%.

This was McLaren’s second win of the season, its 185th in total, and the twelfth at the Hungaroring. Their tally of one-two finishes is now 49, the last one dating back to the 2021 Italian Grand Prix when Norris was again second behind an Australian driver, on that occasion Daniel Ricciardo. This Grand Prix also marked Lewis Hamilton’s 200th podium in Formula 1, a record.

INTERESTING FACT: Oscar Piastri is the first driver born in the 21st century to take a Formula 1 race win.