Weekend Warm-Up - 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix

Formula 1 News
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703 Video Views·Jul 23, 2026
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Video Summary
AI GeneratedThe Hungarian Grand Prix serves as the final race before the summer break. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli enters with a significant lead, while Ferrari and Mercedes aim to optimize their performance on the technical Hungaroring circuit. The event is characterized by high stakes in strategy, significant technical upgrades from McLaren and Aston Martin, and unpredictable weather forecasts.
Welcome to Hungary! The Formula One circus has rolled into Budapest this weekend and the Hungarian
Grand Prix is our final race before the summer shutdown. One final weekend to hit the summer
holidays with a positive result. Kimi Antonelli, fresh from his sixth win in Belgium, leads the
championship by 45 points. Lewis Hamilton sits P2, enjoying a resurgence with Ferrari, who should
go well here. And George Russell, well, he must reset and quickly after a nightmare Belgian Grand
Prix. Let's get into it for one last time before the summer break. Welcome along to Weekend Warm-Up
and welcome down to the pit lane. And you may be wondering if you can hear cheers behind,
it's because we have got Ferrari drivers in the garage and a pit lane walk, desperate to catch
a glimpse of their heroes as well. We've also got James Hinchcliffe back with us as well and Ruth
Buscombe and Juan Pablo Montoya as well. James, this was, you were up against it to get here. This
has been a journey for you. Just explain. Well, I was supposed to arrive in Hungary at 8.10 a.m.
yesterday. I landed about 3 p.m. today. So I landed about an hour ago, but we made it in the nick of
time. Very happy to be here. I got to come here last year for the first time. Really love the city,
really love the track. Thrilled to be back with you guys. And Ruth, strategy-wise, is this a
nightmare, a dream, somewhere in between, a bit of all of it? I love it. Strategy lives on a knife
edge here. One stop, two stop, wet, try, anything can happen. I think the race was decided by
strategy last year, if you asked Oscar. And how important is this race to get a good result, Juan
Pablo, before the summer break for momentum for the remainder of the year? I think everybody. I
think you can change how the team looks at the rest of the year. So it's really important.
We have a track that may benefit Ferrari. I would think Ferrari should run really strong here. So I
want to see how Antonelli and how Kimi behaves, not maybe having the fastest car. I think that's
going to be really exciting. Aston Martin has a new car, so a lot to see. So much has been made
of those upgrades, haven't they? Let's take a look then at what happened last time out. This
is the Belgian Grand Prix. Welcome to the Belgian Grand Prix, to a Formula One classic.
Here we go, everyone.
Kimi Antonelli with a good launch. Going into a route. Max Verstappen has the power. Max Verstappen
has the lead. Antonelli back on the attack. Russell and Lewis Hamilton make contact.
Sucker punch for Russell. Five-second penalty for Lewis Hamilton.
Oh, they make contact. Esterházy has a left-front puncher. Here we go. Blasting with a slipstream.
Contact between McLaren and Ferrari. Forget to leave enough space. Okay, listen now.
Watching the racing bulls battle. They nearly took each other out.
Look at that three-wide. Unbelievable. Carlo Pinto. Red Bull chasing Ferrari.
And he reclaims second position. Let's get after him. Close that gap.
Ferrari in the way. Charles Leclerc tries to defend. Antonelli gets ahead, takes the lead.
Antonelli's on a different planet. Antonelli will see the chequered flag first.
Kimi Antonelli wins the Belgian Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli on a different planet,
says Jolyon Palmer. This is his world, isn't it? We're all just living in it. 19 years old,
he's leading the world standings, picks up his first win this season, goes on to get five more.
Six-time winner, six-time pole sitter, James Hinchliffe. Kimi Antonelli seems to find another
level. How is he doing this? It's really, truly incredible. I mean, for a driver that's so young,
a driver just in his second year in the series, to see the jump that he made from 25 to 26,
and then how he's improved even throughout the year. I mean, start of the year, yeah,
fine. He got that first win. It was like, yeah, okay, George had a bit of an issue in qualifying.
Maybe there's some caveats to that, some asterisks beside it, but you continuously put him in new and
more complicated and more stressful situations, and every time he has delivered. So we really
haven't found a weakness in Kimi Antonelli's game so far. It was the starts, he was overcoming them
in the races, but now he's just an incredibly well-rounded driver. Yeah, and because of his age,
you half expect, okay, things will begin to unravel a little bit. Surely he'll come a proper, like
we saw last year, like you'd expect of any mere mortal who's 19 years old on one of the biggest
world stages, but actually, is his age a positive thing for him? The lack of experience means he
doesn't carry much into each race we get. Yeah, he doesn't have a lot of scars. He doesn't have
a lot of bad issues. So for him, it's just happy to be here, happy to execute, and makes life a
lot easier, but at some point, the mistakes will come, and it's really important, and I think he
has a really good, strong team behind that will make a big difference how he behaves about it.
We so often say Hungary is Monaco without the walls. Plenty of jeopardy here. Kimi Antonelli
won in Monaco, didn't he? How are we expecting both Kimi and Mercedes to go here, Ruth?
Well, they love a long straight. We've seen so far not the fastest car in the corners,
to put it bluntly, so will they have an answer? Because the last time we were at a track where
the corners dominated the straights, they weren't on top in terms of race pace,
so I think they're going to want to see if they can make progress. Kimi Antonelli, however,
across his teammate, if we look at that spectacular Monaco pole, absolutely nailed it.
So I think it's going to be tight. I think it's going to be a case of balancing.
Segwaying to his teammate, George Russell, 50 points adrift, and when you look at the bad luck
that Kimi's had in terms of reliability, you look at the bad luck that George Russell has had,
it kind of evens out. You feel 50 points is probably where the gap should be. James,
how does he mentally reset and bounce back? How would you have done it looking back on your own
career? Well, racing drivers are tough. They're resilient, right? I mean, things like this happen
all the time in your career. The stakes are a lot higher for George this year just because
the championship is on the line, but you have to be good at forgetting what's happened. You
can't change the past. It's got to be focused forward. It's got to be focused on this race.
It sounds cliche, but you have to take it one day at a time, one race at a time,
and that's really what George has to do. There's still lots of points on the board.
It's a massive gap to cover, but we saw a 25-point swing is very easy to do if Kimi has problems on
lap one and George goes on to win the race with what is still the best car. It's not all loss,
but certainly it's about refocusing here. Yes, and reliability has been a thorn in the side.
I'm sure many of you will have heard George's race radio now. It wasn't broadcast because of
the expletives used. Will he have lost the garage with that at all, or are they all going to be
unanimously together here in trying to fix the problem that George is suffering with?
I mean, what else do you expect? If I'm on George's shoes, I think he was very polite
the way he behaved. I think I would have been way more explicit, and I've been way more explicit,
and you've probably heard about it. I wrote the app many, many years ago. Honestly,
it's understandable. I think the team knows there's an issue, and I think that gives him a
very quiet about it for a few races where the issue was going on, but I think it got to a point
that he said, hey, it's not all me. You keep saying that it's all me, but it's not. I changed
my driving style. I changed everything, and we still have the same issue, so there's more to it.
We were speaking with Ruth earlier, and Ruth said, the difference on the start and the energy
and everything, but how much driving there is, gas, brake, make a corner, and gas. You're not
going through the whole start. They really just made one corner in the Spa, and the power
difference was huge, so there is an issue there. Is there a fix for Hungary? That's what George
was saying in Belgium before, of course. He was out the race on lap one in Belgium. Okay,
let's hear now from our Ferrari drivers. They are expected to go well here. Both have a win
apiece so far this season. Here's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Hi, Charles.
So we're here at a track where you took pole position last year. This year you're arriving
off the back of two good race results. How are you feeling about carrying that momentum
into this weekend? I'm looking forward to it. It's a track where I always tend to have to work
a bit harder to have the flow that you need to have in order to be fast, but it's a cool track
at the same time. Last year, it went actually very well for me, so I'll try and just reproduce
the type of performance of last year, bar the race that we had a bit of our struggles.
Hi, Lewis. You mentioned after Spa that it wasn't the smoothest weekend, but you still scored
points, and you said the team had executed really well. What is the feeling heading into this
weekend, and how much would you like to end this first half of the season with a good result for
you and the team? I mean, we've had good results for the team. We've been moving in the right
direction in the past second half of the season, so that's been a positive. Obviously, I want to
maximize this weekend as I do try to maximize each weekend, but I think we've had more to
extract in the past couple of weekends, which I haven't, so the goal is to do that this weekend.
Maximizing all they can, but you feel Ferrari have been doing that and some this season.
We're saying this should be a good track for Ferrari. Why so, James?
It doesn't have the massive straights that tend to favor the Mercedes. The Ferrari chassis is
definitely very good in the corners as well. But so is Monaco. And can we still got it on Paul?
It's still on the race. So these tracks are there. I mean, you would have thought Silverstone was
going to be way more in Mercedes favor, but Ferrari was quite competitive there. Obviously,
ultimately ended up winning the race. So I think that some of these some of these expectations
based on car characteristics and circuit characteristics are not as defined as maybe
we think they are. And everybody's still learning. Everybody's still upgrading their
cars. It's a it's a constantly evolving thing. Ferrari should go quick because they've been
quick. Mercedes will be quick because they've been quick. I mean, you're right. We're halfway
into a brand new era of Formula One. We don't have the data, the reams of data from racetracks
to go before. In terms of the two drivers, Ruiz and Pablo, who do you think will be quicker? Who
has the upper hand here? It's difficult to split them, isn't it? They've both got spectacular record
round here. But one thing I think Luis has as a bit of an edge is that absolute thirst in the car
to push for something different, which rewards you round this track. If you're trying to be a
faster car, let's assume the Merc is still faster over one lap, going and doing the opposite
strategy, taking a risk much like he did in Barcelona to get his first win with the team,
where he went three stop where the two stop was the popular choice and he made it work.
Could be that. Yeah, I agree. I think Luis would be the faster guy. I think he's more comfortable
in the car. I think the team understands better what he needs. Charles, for sure, is coming and
he's going in the right direction. He's still searching where Luis seems to be honing in what
they need to do. I think the other thing that is going to bring this track, I think it's going to
be a mixture of teams. I don't think we're going to say it's a Ferrari and a Mercedes. I think the
McLaren can be there. I think the Red Bull can be there. I think it's going to be a very mixed grid.
You mentioned Red Bull. Will they go well here? Certainly, Isaac Haja, when I sat down with him
in Belgium, said, yes, I'm starting at the back of the grid, but I'm already looking forward to
Hungary because perhaps the track will suit that Red Bull a little better, James. To the point we
were just discussing, no one expected the Red Bulls to be good at Spa. Max is on the podium. Isaac's
drive was unbelievable up through the field. I guess they will. I don't think we know who's
going to be quick where. On paper, you could say yes or no, but we've had a couple of surprises
already. I do expect them to be strong just as they were surprisingly strong last weekend.
This is a cough out. Is this because you've landed late? You know, you're on the fence. Get
off the fence. I've been looking. No, they will be quick. But again, they weren't expecting to
be quick last week. And they were that. I think that team probably of those front running teams
has made the most progress. They've had the most upgrades. They've had, like I said, the biggest
time gain over over the rivals. So they'll just keep chipping away at it. That's what Red Bull
does. And in a way, what a wonderful position that Formula One is in in twenty twenty six,
because we just simply do not know who's going to be in form weekend in weekend out. OK,
let's hear then from Oscar Piastri. Could this be a step forward for McLaren who do bring upgrades?
McLaren have won the last two races here in Hungary. What chance a hat trick?
We'll find out tomorrow. I think we should be a bit more competitive. We've got
a few upgrades this weekend, so hopefully that puts us a bit closer to being able to fight.
I think in Spa, certainly in the race, we were probably a bit more competitive than we expected.
So that was was a good thing. How did they feel on the simulator? I actually can't remember if I
used them on the simulator. So I don't know. Should be faster. That's all I care about.
But I feel like we've got a pretty good track record with with upgrades for the most part and
and how they perform in the sim versus reality. So fingers crossed it just makes us quicker.
Oh, more lows than highs for Oscar Piastri so far this season. And McLaren have been quick to say
as well that we're bringing upgrades, but we aren't expecting everything to be solved at once
in this car. Don't forget, they've also got the PU in the back that Mercedes are having such
reliability issues with. Where are McLaren? What are these upgrades Juan Pablo? I think what McLaren
has done, I think after Silverstone, they figured something out because you look at Silverstone,
they look really good in practice, went to qualifying, they were nowhere. And I think
Norris had a shot at winning that, you know, if he would have been on without the penalties,
I think he had a shot at winning the race. His race pace was unbelievable. So that would have
been really good to see. How good are they going to be here? I'm not 100% sure. You know, you would
say maybe it doesn't suit them that great, but they were so good here. They still won here. So
I don't know. It's what I told you, it's so hard to predict who's going to be good. Like normally
we go, oh yeah, Mercedes and then Ferrari is close. I think out of these top four,
anybody can do it. Whoever gets it right and manages the energy right and deploys where it
needs to be deployed. And because there's so many opportunities to deploy here, where you use the
power will make a difference on lap time. We said it, didn't we? After Belgium, this race weekend
could be wide open. A new floor, other aerodynamic parts, they're bringing, what does this tell us
about the direction that McLaren are going in? I think they're going for every single tiny little
bit of downforce they can get because it matters to that car, especially in terms of stability.
The thing about Budapest is this track is the most grip sensitive track we go to all year.
If I can give you 1% extra grip performance by finding some downforce or giving you softer tyres,
you go faster percentage wise. It all matters here and I love the hunger down in that team.
They were even trying to do the lift trick off last week. Every millimetre matters and the gaps
here are so short. It's one of the shortest laps of the year. They've also said as well they are
going to be testing a developed version of their rear wing for those on rear wing watch, but not
expecting to run it here in, where are we? We're in Hungary, nor in the Netherlands. There we go,
Aston Martin. They have been targeting all season. We are bringing our big upgrade package. We're
all in one. We're in a cost cap era. We're not bringing bits. We are going all in one, all in
for Hungary. How much pressure is that team under to see a result when that car hits the track,
albeit there is a PU upgrade to come as well? Yes, there's a lot of pressure, certainly. They've
made a bold choice. I've never seen anything quite like it in Formula 1 to just sit on the car as is
and have everything come in one go. And there's just going to be so much hope, so much anticipation
for this weekend that it all works. Now, remember, excuse me, just because you bolted on the car
today doesn't mean you've maximized the package today. So I think what's important is if it's not
immediately fighting inside the top ten, not all is lost. Right. I mean, every other car started in
Barcelona straight down and they've been developing it since this is for all intents and purposes,
a B-spec car. You've got to restart from that from that point. So I think it is need to be
directionally correct. It needs to correlate well with the wind tunnel and the simulation.
And if that's right and that's true, then at least they're heading in the right direction.
Free practice is so important for that team, isn't it? All right, let's hear then from Fernando Alonso,
whose very future you feel depends on the performance of this car. I have a pretty clear
picture of the team that, you know, we will fix all the problems. They take time, but I think
I have no doubts. I have zero doubts that Adrian will provide the best car on the grid sooner or
later. So that's probably, you know, as I said before, I would like to see the first step with
this package, with the understanding after the first couple of races. And I think there's going
to be more to come next year. That's for sure. And the years to come. And I think on the power unit,
I think I have no doubts as well. I think it's a matter of time that Honda fixes the issues,
because it's what they've been doing, you know, for the last four years of racing. So we started
on the back foot. Yes, we are dealing with that process now and that pain on the weekends, but
we are working all together to fix the issues. So, you know, it's just how soon, you know,
the car will be competitive. That's the question mark. Maybe the next two races will give us a
little bit of a feeling for that. But yeah, for me, I mean, I'm relaxed. As I said many times,
you know, I'm thinking I need to know what I do next year and the years to come. I feel fresh.
I feel motivated. I feel fast. But I need to enjoy also what I do.
There's a hopefulness, there's an optimism perhaps there in what he's saying.
I feel fresh. He's suggesting he has more years to come, Juan Pablo. But
I think these upgrades will play a part in that decision making though.
Yes. Publicly, I think he's trying to push the team a little bit like Max is doing. You know,
I want to stay, but you need to do better. And realistically, I think he's in the best position
that if somebody is going to get it right, it's Adrian and Aston, the question is when.
It's not if. If it's going to happen, it's when it's going to happen. I mean,
the timeline is going to match with him. Do you want to run the way they're running? No,
but you know they're going to make huge strides. I think that this step is going to be big.
But as James said, I don't think it's going to be a true representation where they're going to
be a month or two months from now. You know what I mean? I think once they get the new power unit
and they finalize this, when we go to Monza, we go to Baku, Madrid, all those races will get a
better read where they really are. I think it'd be cool if by the time they come to Madrid, they're
somewhere where Williams is or close to an Alpine. It would be amazing to see.
Yes, for sure. Ruth, Adrian Newey, legend, no doubt. The greatest the sport has seen.
How much pressure is he under, though, to not tarnish the legacy that he has?
Absolutely none, in my opinion. I think he's done everything he needs to do to be
known forever, at least amongst people like me, as my engineering hero, my engineering center.
He doesn't need to prove anything. This is about whether or not this is the next thing that he can
master, this new set of regs. I'm excited to see. He explained to me once when he sees a new car,
it's like Christmas morning because you don't know what you're going to get. I think
he will be very excited to see whether or not the thing in his brain goes on the paper.
Yes. Look, everybody is hoping that we see the best of Adrian Newey in the best of this car,
for sure. You're right, no doubt, best there is. James, we're looking, of course,
at Aston Martin out here, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll. Do you see Lance Stroll continuing to get
better? Fernando Alonso, have you seen slightly this season? Well, I mean, he's been on a bit of
a run, I guess. He's out qualified him a couple of times in the last few races, having not done
it for 40 something. So it's nice to see them closer, right? Because for a long time, the gap
between them was so much. You question whether or not they were really able to work together
that well to help kind of develop the car and push it forward. It seemed like it was more of
a one man show. Now that Lance is able to kind of push Fernando a little bit better, we'll see what
the new car brings. Obviously, both of them are going to have to maybe learn some new things about
that car and how to drive it. But hopefully both drivers are at their best and have, you know,
they've survived these first ten races. I can't imagine how tough it must have been. I mean,
showing up every week, knowing that you're not going any faster and every other team's developing,
having to stay motivated. It's so tough. So you think if the car is more competitive,
you're still going to see Lanza qualify Fernando? I think that'll stop me, too. But what that's
saying to me is that you think Fernando is not giving it 100 percent. He's he's he's always
gives it 100 percent. Even when this is the moment when it's like this Lewis last year,
Lewis was trying, but between finishing eighth and 10th, I think that matters to Fernando more
than it does to Lewis. No, I don't. I mean, you're still going to push in when you see an opportunity
to be competitive. He brings the A game and he can do amazing things. But it's how how many times
can you get hit on the head until you go? I mean, I put a hell of a lot. We're not two seconds off.
We're one point nine seconds off. And just so we're clear, I'm not saying that I think Lance
is going to have the better of Fernando over the rest of the season. I just hope that it's closer
so that way they can kind of both. I think it'd be amazing. I think Lance, he shows that Lance
at least is more, you know, maybe not more committed, but he's for sure executing. And I
think it's good for his career. And I think I think if the car starts becoming really good,
we're going to see those two drivers for a couple of years. If the car stays being
uncompetitive, I think we might see two drivers out. You know, how much longer do you really want
to do it? And let's not forget, Fernando Alonso did pick up that point as well already this season.
And is he, one final point for me, the kingpin in the driver market? Once he decides his future,
do other things begin to fall into place? We shall see. We're going to take another look now
at this brilliant track here, the Hungaroring. Who better than Esteban Ocon?
Esteban, we thought that you would be the best person to talk us through Hungary.
Oh, yeah. Winning in Formula One, the best day of my life.
You just won the Hungarian Grand Prix.
All the hard work that I've done throughout all my life, you know, paid off.
The first thing is arriving into Turn 1. There is usually a line around the braking point,
but there's a slight bump on it. So if you brake on the bump, you might have lock-up because it's
the beginning of the lap and the front tyres might be cold. It's a long exit, so it's important to
get a good exit, but it's more important to push on the entry. And we enter into one of the longest
corners of the calendar, you know, Turn 2 off-camber, and it's important to maximize the
exit, but still take Turn 3 flat. Then you arrive into Turn 4, high-speed corner. One scary one,
because the rail is very close there on the left, so not too much kerb, otherwise you might bottom.
Turn 5, again about carrying the minimum speed, and then we enter into the section which I prefer
the most. So 6, 7, and then 8 and 9, you know, which are two chicanes in combination that you
need to get right. Most of the kerb into 6 and 7 and 8 and 9, you need to carry as much minimum
speed as you can. Then Turn 11, probably the fastest high-speed corner of the circuit.
Your tyre starts to be quite warm, so you need to be braking hard, but still manage the rear-locking
into there, and then the last two corners are about surviving. You need to not get the car
sideways, you need to have the car right in line. It's usually, you know, about 50 degrees track
temp, and the tyres are cooking at this stage. And into the last one, try to not lose the car on
entry. Once the car is settled and on power, you should be okay and finishing there.
Esteban Ocon, of course, a winner here before. Let's take a look at some of the other teams
we have here. Just a word on the weather, actually. That looks, oh, look at race day.
I'm not going to say it because of what happened in Belgium, but it says light rain. We know what
happens here when we get a sprinkling of rain. We did have a sprinkling of rain today as well.
We'll see if it comes on Sunday. That would mean the first wet weather running these cars have
ever seen, and it comes on race day with absolutely zero practice. That could be a chapter of the
weekend, couldn't it? On to other teams who may spring a surprise. Who have you guys got your eye
on? So, does the Racing Bull, both cars should have the upgrade? I think that's going to be good
to see. I think the Audi should go really well here with the change of direction and everything
should be a good track. It'll be good to see Nico maybe try to get to Portoletto. Portoletto seems
to be very comfortable in the car, very set in to the team and everything. I think Nico really
needs to make a step there. Yes, very good. For me, Alpine because Ocon won the race here because
they predicted the weather very well. They nailed the race strategy. It can always change it, even
when it's sunny. And Brazil 2024, last time they had a double podium, was again predicting the
weather. Volatile, people tell you it's not going to rain and then it does here. It says light rain,
so I don't know if that means no rain or heavy rain. Be ready for everything, Laura. This morning
was a lot of rain. This morning when I was early in the circuit, it was a lot of rain and it wasn't
supposed to rain today. I'm hearing 30% chance of rain. Again, I don't know what that means for
Sunday. Nobody does. Nobody does. I'll go the other way. I'll look at a team that I maybe want
to see step up a little bit. And that's Haas. I mean, such a strong start with Ali Behrman. They
were P4 in the constructors for quite a while. But then the last few rounds, we've been talking
about, you know, racing bulls, multiple races in a row with both cars in the points. They finally
were able to match Alpine, who had that obviously massive points haul from Gasly in Monaco. You talk
about Bortoletto back to back points for getting those points in Belgium, who we haven't heard from
in the midfield recently is Haas and Williams. And with the strong start that they had with Haas,
I really want to see them. I don't know if they need another upgrade. They just need to understand
the car a bit better. But for the strong performance they had early, they need to kind of
kickstart that point scoring train again, because we really haven't been talking about them in that
midfield battle and second half of the top 10 in the last few rounds. And strategy could so easily,
Ruth, be a way for those teams down the bottom half of the grid to carve their way through. What
are we looking out for this weekend? Well, weather. First off, 21 here, Ocon 1. Lewis was the only
person that didn't take that pit stop. One lap. You can lose it. It comes down to one lap. But in
the dry, strategy lives on a knife edge here between the one stop and the two stop. Last year,
McLaren's split landed with the one stop, won the race. Oscar on a two committed too early,
went to the two stop. And nobody knows which way it's going to go. Strategists on pit walls are
using all the data we had in the past, but the data we get in the race to see what the degradation is.
And now for the first time ever, fans at home, and well, us too, can see that kind of insight. So
this weekend we will have a brand new strategy insight, new F1 insight powered by AWS. We're
live during the race. We will hopefully be able to show you where the race is going. One versus
two stop. I love that. Thank you very much, Ruth. We also have rookies in as well for FP1. So a
chance for some of them to get to grips with the Hungara ring and prove themselves to those teams.
We've got five of them. I can't remember them all, so we're gonna have to read them to you.
We've got Frederick Vesti in for Kimi Antonelli, Leo Fonaroli in for Piastri. We've got Paul Aaron
in for Colapinto. We've got Hirakawa for Behrmann and Hertha in for Bottas. So Aston Martin,
of course, fielding both their drivers in what is a pinnacle weekend. And when is it all happening?
I hear you ask. We've got you. Don't worry. Here's the schedule for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
That's your weekend warm-up on a Thursday here. Media day done and on to Friday. On air,
building up to free practice one from 1.10. Free practice two at 4.40. Free practice three at 12.10
and then qualifying. The pre-qualifying show at 3.25pm. 4pm start for qualifying itself.
The post-qualifying show immediately after. We find out who will start on pole position for Sunday,
race day. The pre-race show at 10.00pm to 2.00pm. 3pm start for the Hungarian Grand Prix and the
post-race show straight after the podium with all of the analysis, all of the reaction.
Okay, you know what time it is, guys. And James, you do not get a free pass because you are fresh,
not so fresh off an aeroplane. You can go third if you'd like.
Okay, perfect. I'll take it.
Predictions, please.
First of all, you're going to see a different pole and a different winner,
I think because the conditions are going to be different. Sunday is going to be the hottest day
and I think it's going to flip around the script a little bit. I'm going to go Lewis, Kimi and
George.
A Ferrari win. Get involved. You can see on the screen now. F1 predicts, get involved at home.
Ruth?
He took my ranking exactly. Then a Max Verstappen coming through and then getting there and
annoying it just so I don't have to agree 100%.
He nailed it.
Shocking.
So two counts for a Lewis Hamilton win here at Hungary. James?
Max Verstappen.
To win?
Over Lewis Hamilton, over Kimi Antonelli.
That is a race I would like to see.
I mean, yes, but that's not the point. That's not the point.
I'd love to know how this happens.
We know how close it can be in qualifying here, right? It was the closest. I mean, last year was
crazy. We had an unpredictable pole sitter with Charlotte there.
Max is Max. He knows how to get that last little bit out of it when qualifying is so close.
Qualifying is so important here. If it does rain on Sunday, he's so good in the wet.
Why not get Red Bull's first win with their own powertrain right here?
This is a track that's known for firsts when it comes to victories.
I do think we'll see a Ferrari win this weekend.
I am.
I'm going to say that.
Should I just say Charlotte Claire for balance?
Charlotte Claire wins. Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton are on the podium.
Don't ask me what happens to Max Verstappen or George Russell.
I don't know.
Come back and then see how wrong we all were
when Kimi Antonelli wins it on Sunday and continues the brilliant run that we've seen.
Worth noting on Sunday, yes, we're predicting a bit of rain,
but it is also, as you mentioned, Juan Pablo, very hot.
I'm seeing temperatures up towards 29 degrees.
So should it rain, it may evaporate very quickly and dry out.
Could make the crossover super interesting.
That is it from us. Thank you all so much.
You better go and have a coffee, a shower, some food, a sleep,
and we will see you tomorrow.
Those all sound great.
You don't want to miss free practice here at the Hungaroring.
One final Friday before the summer break.
Come back and join us tomorrow.
We'll see you then.
