Five things to know ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix

The summer break is in sight, but before we put our feet up on a mandatory shutdown, there’s the small matter of a double-header, starting this weekend in Hungary.

Located just north of the capital Budapest, the 4.381km-long Hungaroring has produced many memorable moments over the years, could we be set for more this weekend?

Before we head to the track, here are five things you should know ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was set to hold the first of two ‘Alternative Tyre Allocation’ qualifying trials before its postponement, meaning the Hungaroring will now be the first venue to host the new format.

With the aim of decreasing the wider environmental impact generated by the production and transport of tyres, teams will each receive fewer dry tyre sets than usual – 11 down from 13.

This is because in qualifying, teams will have to run a mandatory tyre in each phase, as opposed to the usual free choice.

In Q1, drivers must run the hard compound, with the 15 who make it through to Q2 all having to compete on the medium. Then Q3 will see the final 10 drivers all qualify on the soft compound.

No changes have been made to the length of each qualifying phase, and the allocation of wet and intermediate tyres to each team remains unaffected.

If it is declared a wet session, the drivers and teams will have a free choice of tyre as per usual.

The second trial of this format will take place after the summer break at the Italian Grand Prix.

Formula 1 is on a pretty remarkable streak of rain-affected weekends. Each of the last five rounds - Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria and Great Britain - has seen at least one rain-affected session, and that’s before you take into consideration that the race in Imola was postponed because of the flooding in the region.

This wet streak looks set to continue this weekend, despite Hungary often providing some red-hot temperatures.

Rain looks set to fall on the Hungaroring on Friday, with a smaller chance we may see some impact Saturday too.

Though, at the time of publishing, it will likely all have dried up come Grand Prix Sunday. You can check out the full weekend forecast on our Weather Watch.

Alex Albon is on a roll. He’s taken his FW45 through to Q3 at each of the last three rounds.

If he can continue that run this weekend, it might just be his best Saturday effort of the bunch.

That’s because the tight and twisty nature of the Hungaroring shouldn’t suit our car as much as the circuit characteristics of the previous three venues – it’s often described as being like Monaco without the walls and Alex was P13 on Saturday in the principality.

We haven’t reached Q3 here since Valtteri Bottas managed to do so in 2016, with the Finnish racer putting his FW38 P10 on the grid.

That all being said, we’re excited to see how our drivers fare with the challenge this weekend.

Logan Sargeant has been very happy with how his last two race weekends have gone. Across both the Austrian and British Grands Prix, he’s made up eight positions in the race including a career-best P11 at Silverstone.

“The progression has been good,” he shared last time out, adding: “I feel like I’m getting more comfortable.

“I’m starting to drive the car the way it actually needs to be driven. It’s all coming to me.”

This run of familiar circuits would have been a welcome boost to Logan as he continues to grow as an F1 driver.

In his nine races at the Hungaroring during his F3 and F2 career, Logan finished inside the points on all but one occasion. Can he add another top-10 finish to that collection this weekend?

The finish line is in sight for our quartet of Formula 3 racers, with just three rounds remaining in their season.

Franco Colapinto enjoyed a positive weekend in Silverstone, currently sitting just three points shy of P3 in the championship.

Just one point further back is Zak O’Sullivan who will be looking to pick himself back up after a tough weekend at home.

Luke Browning and Ollie Gray also didn’t score in Silverstone and will be doing all they can to end their season in positive fashion, starting in Budapest.