All info you need to see before the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix starts

The 2024 Formula 1 season continues with its 13th race: the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix in the Hungaroring.

Will McLaren Close The Gap?

As we get closer to the summer break, the 2024 F1 campaign has become quite a thrilling one. Obviously, the battle for the World Drivers' Championship is still missing, but the competitive nature of most of the last few races has been great to see, especially when compared to the previous season.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen continues at the top of the WDC with 255 points, ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris (171). Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is now 21 points behind Norris as he's failed to score in three of the last four outings. Meanwhile, Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz is fourth in the WDC with 146 points.

Oscar Piastri is fifth for McLaren with 124 points, followed by Sergio Pérez (118 points for Red Bull) and the Mercedes pair of George Russell (111) and Sir Lewis Hamilton (110).

Mercedes has had consecutive victories in the last two events, with Russell winning in Austria and Hamilton in Silverstone. Still, Red Bull (373 points), Ferrari (302), and McLaren (295) remain in front of the German brand in the World Constructors' Championship.

Kick Sauber (Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas) remains the only scoreless team in the 2024 F1 season.

2024 Hungarian GP Facts & Figures

The 2024 edition of the Hungarian Grand Prix will be the 39th F1 race in Hungary.

The first Hungarian Grand Prix was held in 1936 at Népiglet. The race was part of the Grand Prix season (European Championship) and was won by Tazio Nuvolari behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo. The 2023 edition will be the 38th Hungarian Grand Prix as part of the Formula 1 World Championship.

The first Formula One World Championship race in Hungary took place on the 10th of August of 1986 and was won by Brazilian Nelson Piquet after an amazing overtake on pole-sitter Ayrton Senna and his Lotus 98T. It was the first Formula 1 race held behind the Iron Curtain.
The inaugural Hungarian Grand Prix was Alain Prost's 100th Grand Prix, but the four-time F1 champion couldn't finish that race.

In Hungary, World Champions Damon Hill, Fernando Alonso, and Jenson Button achieved their maiden Formula 1 victories in 1993, 2003, and 2006, respectively. Most recently, Heikki Kovalainen took his first Grand Prix win in 2008 and Esteban Ocon became a Grand Prix winner in 2021.

The event also saw two drivers clinch titles. Nigel Mansell sealed his only championship in 1992 with a second place, while Michael Schumacher did it in 2001 by taking his 51st Formula 1 victory (tying the then-all-time win record held by Prost) and winning his fourth title.

Sir Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver in Hungary, with eight victories. The seven-time champion won the race three times with McLaren (2007, 2009 and 2012) and five with Mercedes (2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020). In 2013, Hamilton achieved the first of his 83 wins with Mercedes in Hungary and is the most recent pole-sitter at the place.

Michael Schumacher ranks second in the wins tally with four, one with Benetton in 1994 and three with Ferrari (1998, 2001, and 2004).

Apart from Hamilton, Fernando Alonso (2003), Daniel Ricciardo (2014), Esteban Ocon (2021), and Max Verstappen (2022, 2023) are the other active drivers with wins in the Hungaroring.

Among teams, McLaren leads the ranking with 11 victories, followed by Williams and Ferrari with seven each.

Mercedes' engines have won 13 races in Hungary, followed by Renault (nine) and Ferrari (seven).

Hungaroring Track Info

Though the 14-corner 4.381-meter circuit has been criticised for some races with a small number of overtakes, the venue has given F1 fans some fantastic racing, especially when the weather has been mixed, as in 2006, 2014 and 2021.

Downforce is essential at this circuit and track position represents a big part of a significant result on Sunday. Of course, Max Verstappen and Red Bull threw that theory out of the window in 2022, with the Dutchman winning from ninth place, but it still applies to the rest.

The strategy is also essential. While some races have given us similar strategies among the front runners, we have seen in 1998 and 2019 race-winning performances with a pit strategy utterly different from the usual.

Turn 1 is the main overtaking spot on this track. However, Turn 2 offers chances for good battles, since drivers can take different lines to make a successful move. Turn 4 has also been a place to overtake, although it is quite risky. In conclusion, the first sector of the Hungaroring is the place where a move can be made when battling for position, while Sectors 2 and 3 are tricky sections that have been rough to go through while following a car.

The circuit has had three different configurations since its inauguration in 1986. First, the track had a 4.014 km layout with 16 corners, but it had an 'S' chicane at the then Turn 3 that was later eliminated for the 1989 event (making it a 3.968 km circuit until 2003). That chicane was a provisional measure to avoid an underground spring.

In 2003, the final sector was changed and the main straight was made around 200 meters longer to generate better racing chances in that section. A longer straight was added between corners 11 and 12 and the latter was made as a tight right-hander. The first corner was also tighter and is one of the current layout's best zones for wheel-to-wheel combat.

The lap records on the current layout (since 2003) are held by Lewis Hamilton from the 2020 event: 1:13.447 min (outright) and 1:16.627 min (Fastest Lap during the race).

2024 Hungarian Grand Prix - Tyres

The dry tyres for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix will be the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C5 as P Zero Red soft.

Pirelli's press release for the race explained the matters for the weekend: "This weekend, the Hungarian round takes place from 19 to 21 July, a classic long-term fixture on the calendar. Cars must run with a high level of aerodynamic downforce, almost on a par with Monaco, while the following week in Belgium, aero efficiency is vital in order to be competitive through the high speed corners as well as down the long straights.

These two venues are also very different when it comes to the weather one can expect, as summer is definitely much hotter in Hungary than in Belgium, although it has to be said that, in recent years, rain has put in an appearance over the Budapest weekend.

The Hungaroring is very twisty with only one real straight that includes the start-finish line. It 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 them being 180° turns.

The track climbs and drops and its 4.381 kilometres make it one of the shortest on the calendar, again almost the opposite to 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 2, with just the one detection zone before the entry into the final corner.

In terms of the forces exerted on the tyres, the Hungaroring is not particularly severe. Pirelli has chosen the same three softest compounds as last year, with the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as the P Zero Yellow medium and the C5 as the P Zero Red soft, which is a step softer compared to the season in which the 18” tyres first appeared. Traction is one of the most important factors, especially across the rear axle.

Degradation can be high, especially when it is very hot and the forecast for this weekend is definitely not favourable in this regard, when one thinks back to last year when Hungary saw the highest recorded track temperature of the season at 53 °C.

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