The trip to Hungary marks not only the end of a double-header of races, but also the first part of the season as teams face a mandatory two-week shutdown during August. With a break ahead, there’s still plenty at stake during this weekend’s race in Budapest.
A chance to set the tone
Oscar Piastri arrives at the venue of his first victory in Formula 1 with a 16-point advantage over McLaren team mate Lando Norris, following the Australian’s win at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday.
That was Piastri’s first win in four races, and a strong response to Norris’ back-to-back successes in Austria and Great Britain. Piastri was quick on both occasions, but had seen his main title rival cut the gap between the pair to single figures in the championship battle.
As the final race before the summer break, it sometimes feels like there is a tiny bit of added significance to a result that will be the lasting outcome until the end of August, but Hungary this weekend really does offer an opportunity for the two McLaren drivers to leave with different outlooks over the shutdown.
Should Piastri secure another victory, he will move at least 23 points clear of Norris – almost an entire race win – and take real momentum into the break. But for Norris, he can quickly change that impression if he’s able to hit back with a win of his own, which would reduce the deficit to nine points at most.
It’s a title battle that looks set to ebb and flow throughout the rest of the season, but the outcome of the latest instalment will hold for just a little longer than usual.
Hamilton and Ferrari building on Belgium
Much of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend was extremely disappointing for Lewis Hamilton, as he struggled to get to grips with an upgraded Ferrari and suffered two early exits from the qualifying sessions.
A spin in Sprint Qualifying was attributed in part to settings on an upgraded component, while Hamilton exceeded track limits in Q1 on Saturday and lost his best lap time to be eliminated.
The seven-time World Champion fought back impressively in Sunday’s race, though, making a number of thrilling overtakes in the first part of the race before timing his pit stop perfectly to climb from the pit lane to finish seventh. Hamilton said afterwards that he felt he was making progress with the new Ferrari parts – including a new rear suspension – and starting to fine-tune it over the weekend.
With a chance to build on that immediately in Budapest, Hamilton and Ferrari could be on for a strong performance, as Charles Leclerc showed the potential of the updated car with his podium at Spa-Francorchamps.
Both Leclerc and Team Principal Fred Vasseur referenced how the team was getting more out of its new set-up with each session, which bodes well for the next race.
Antonelli seeking confidence
While Hamilton was able to fight back and score points from his pit lane starting position on Sunday, the same can’t be said of the driver who replaced him at Mercedes.
Kimi Antonelli endured a tough weekend, also dropping out in the first part of Qualifying on both occasions, and only being able to recover to 16th place in the race, although he did also score the fastest lap.
The Italian says he has been struggling for confidence in recent races, and really felt it on Saturday in Belgium. But, like Hamilton, there were also more positive signs during the race itself. Antonelli had a higher-downforce wing on and felt he could rebuild some of that confidence during the race, even if he couldn’t always show his improved pace because of the straight line speed deficit it left him with.
At the final weekend before the break, the 18-year-old says he wants to target an improvement in Qualifying to allow him to run nearer the front and utilise better race pace more effectively, and the usual format of three practice sessions should offer him a chance to find his rhythm.
Colapinto’s search for his first points at Alpine
The second seat alongside Pierre Gasly at Alpine has been a tricky place to be so far this season, with Jack Doohan occupying it for the first six rounds of the year before being replaced by Franco Colapinto.
Both drivers have failed to score so far – each has a best finish of 13th place – while Gasly has picked up all 20 of Alpine’s points. After a strong top-six result in Silverstone, the Frenchman made it back-to-back point-scoring results at Spa with P10.
Executive director Flavio Briatore showed he wasn’t afraid to make a change before the start of the European season, and similarly suggested that Colapinto would keep the seat for as long as he is performing, but a further change could come if he struggles.
The Alpine is clearly not the most competitive car this season, but the team are at risk of slipping further adrift at the bottom of the standings if only one driver is scoring points, so Colapinto knows he needs cleaner weekends to cement his place.
Budapest is a track that the Argentine goes well at, having been on the podium twice in his junior career, and a more competitive outing would allow him to enjoy the shutdown with a little bit more confidence that his seat is safe.
Upgrades to the Hungaroring
If you watched any coverage of last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, you are set to notice some major differences to the circuit this time around.
Those changes do not relay to the track layout itself – meaning drivers will face the same test as they have in the past – but the pit straight will look markedly different thanks to some impressive work over the past 12 months.
Since that last race at the Hungaroring, the circuit has torn down both the pit building and the main grandstand that sat opposite, and have replaced both with state-of-the-art new facilities.
Despite having to work through the winter, a new, modern pit building and garages have been completed that will give teams and race organisers more space to work in, while the large new main grandstand offers an impressive view of the action on the pit straight.
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