Hungarian Grand Prix 2016 Preview: Start Time, TV Info, Weather, Schedule, Odds
The Hungarian Grand Prix outside Budapest is the beginning of the third set of back-to-back race weekends on the Formula One calendar leading up to the traditional summer break in August.
After Canada and Azerbaijan, the teams had a week to regroup before Austria and Britain, followed by another off week leading up to the Hungarian race.
This also marks the halfway point of the season, as the Hungarian Grand Prix is the 11th race on this year's bloated, 21-race calendar.
Lewis Hamilton is back on his championship form from the previous two years, having won four of the last five grands prix, including a dominant performance in his home race at Silverstone. He is also tied with Michael Schumacher for the most career Hungarian Grand Prix victories with four.
After taking his second penalty in as many weeks, Nico Rosberg dropped from second to third place in the British Grand Prix classification, costing him three championship points. That leaves him one point ahead of Hamilton, his Mercedes team-mate and the only other man with a realistic chance of winning the drivers' championship this season.
But as dominant as Mercedes have been this year, the Hungarian Grand Prix has a recent tradition of producing unexpected results.
The last time the championship-leading driver or team won in Hungary was the 2010 race, when Mark Webber won for Red Bull. Likewise, the eventual drivers' champion has not won in Hungary since Schumacher way back in 2004.
Speaking of Red Bull, Max Verstappen yet again benefited from Rosberg's misfortune at the British Grand Prix, snapping up his second straight second-place finish. Meanwhile, Ferrari suffered just their second podium-less race at Silverstone, and the Bulls are growing larger in their rearview mirrors, just six points adrift in the constructors' standings.
The narrow, serpentine Hungaroring should play to Red Bull's strengths, and it won't be a surprise if they leave Budapest Sunday night in second place in the championship—a position the Milton Keynes, England-based team have not held since the final race of the 2014 season.
The Hungarian race has also been called the Grand Prix of Finland, as a large contingent of Finnish fans generally show up to the race thanks to the countries' shared heritage. So Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas should have plenty of support.
Keep reading for a full race weekend preview, including TV times, championship standings, a circuit map and guide, tyre and DRS information, weather forecast, odds and session times.
Current Standings
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As previously noted, the race for the drivers' title is nearly a dead heat between the two Merc drivers. Behind them, Sebastian Vettel has fallen to fifth place. His Ferrari team-mate, Raikkonen, is third, six points ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
Verstappen is closing in on the top five, having outscored everyone but Hamilton since his midseason promotion to from Toro Rosso to Red Bull.
Here are the top 10 drivers heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix:
| Position | Driver | Points |
| 1. | Nico Rosberg | 168 |
| 2. | Lewis Hamilton | 167 |
| 3. | Kimi Raikkonen | 106 |
| 4. | Daniel Ricciardo | 100 |
| 5. | Sebastian Vettel | 98 |
| 6. | Max Verstappen | 90 |
| 7. | Valtteri Bottas | 54 |
| 8. | Sergio Perez | 47 |
| 9. | Felipe Massa | 38 |
| 10. | Romain Grosjean | 28 |
Mercedes have now won nine of the 10 races this season, although Ferrari are 16 points closer than they were at the same point last year.
Force India have outscored Williams, their fellow Mercedes engine customers, by 20 points over the last three races and now sit just 19 points out of fourth place.
Here is the table for the constructors' championship:
| Position | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mercedes | 335 |
| 2. | Ferrari | 204 |
| 3. | Red Bull | 198 |
| 4. | Williams | 92 |
| 5. | Force India | 73 |
| 6. | Toro Rosso | 41 |
| 7. | McLaren | 32 |
| 8. | Haas | 28 |
| 9. | Renault | 6 |
| 10. | Manor | 1 |
| 11. | Sauber | 0 |
Hungaroring
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The 4.381-kilometre Hungaroring was the first circuit to host an F1 grand prix behind the Iron Curtain. The track was built in 1985 outside Budapest in a natural bowl that gives spectators great views of the cars.
The track has been completely resurfaced for this year's race. "New track surfaces are always a little bit of a venture into the unknown as you don’t know how much grip there will be, how the surface will evolve over the weekend and how the tyres will perform with the surface," Renault's Jolyon Palmer explained in the team's race preview.
Check out the official F1 circuit guide video to see a lap from a driver's perspective.
Turns 1, 2 and 3
After a blast down the start/finish straight, the drivers brake from more than 300 km/h to less than 100 km/h for the tight almost-hairpin of Turn 1. A right-hand kink follows almost immediately as the drivers accelerate through the first DRS zone of the lap.
Turn 2 is a long, 140-km/h left-hander, with the track falling away on the exit. After Turn 3, a quick, 220-km/h right-hander, the track climbs up a hill.
The Hungaroring is "less dependent on power, and much more dependent on traction, cornering speeds and agility, and it’s a really enjoyable challenge," Jenson Button said, per McLaren's race preview. "You get a great feeling when you hook up a good lap there."
Turns 4 and 5
After reaching speeds of more than 300 km/h up the hill, the drivers brake to approximately 200 km/h for the left-hand Turn 4.
Romain Grosjean has fond memories of Turn 4, as he explained in Haas' race preview:
"It's very difficult to overtake at the Hungaroring. To be fair, I made one of the best overtakes of my life there in 2013, outside of turn four, on Felipe Massa. I got a drive-through penalty for that one for having four wheels off the track. That didn't matter to me as it was one of my most beautiful overtaking moves ever.
"
Turn 5 is another long, slow right-hander, with the cars slowing to approximately 150 km/h.
Turns 6, 7, 8 and 9
Turns 6 and 7 make up a slow, tight, right-left chicane, with the drivers braking to about 115 km/h for the first part.
Esteban Gutierrez explained in the Haas race preview that it "is a very interesting chicane. It’s very slow, but interesting because you can use all the curb on the apex and exit. You come out of that corner with the tires overheated and approaching the next sequence of corners."
Turns 8 and 9 follow almost immediately, a left and right sequence, with both turns taken in fourth gear.
Verstappen said in Red Bull's race preview that Sector 2 is his favourite part of the Hungaroring lap. "It's all about hitting the apex of one corner right so you are in the right position for the next one," he said. "If you get it wrong it's a big time penalty, so you need to be really focused."
Turns 10 and 11
Turn 10 is a sweeping left-hander taken in sixth gear at approximately 250 km/h. The drivers then brake to about 200 km/h for Turn 11, a nearly 90-degree right-hander, followed by a relatively long straight.
"My favourite parts of this track are the high-speed sections—Turns 4 and 5 as well as Turn 11," Daniil Kvyat said, per Toro Rosso's race preview. "The key to going quickly here is to get into a rhythm and let the corners flow into one another, which makes it a fun lap to drive."
Turns 12, 13 and 14
The final section of the lap is very slow and technical. Turn 12 is a sharp right-hander, taken at just 120 km/h. Turn 13 is a long left-hander, with the cars travelling approximately 95 km/h when they hit the apex.
The pit entry is on the outside of the exit at Turn 13, followed almost immediately by Turn 14, another—you guessed it—long, slow corner. The drivers take the corner in third gear at approximately 125 km/h before being spit back onto the main straight, with the pit exit coming at the far end.
All circuit data is from the FIA race preview. The circuit map is from Wikimedia Commons.
Hungarian Grand Prix Tyres and DRS Zones
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Pirelli selected its medium, soft and supersoft tyres for the Hungarian Grand Prix, a combination previously used in Azerbaijan and the first four races of the season.
The Hungaroring is a relatively low-speed circuit, like Monaco with the walls pushed back a few feet. In Pirelli's race preview, motorsport director Paul Hembery said, "The track has been completely resurfaced, and we saw in Austria that this had quite a profound influence as well: we will need to see if this is case in Hungary too, so free practice will be very important."
There is not a huge variation in the teams' tyre choices for Budapest, with everyone but Gutierrez and the two Force Indias requesting just one set of medium tyres. Ferrari chose the most supersoft tyres—nine sets for each driver—while Mercedes took eight.
Haas are the only team to alter their selections between their drivers. Both have eight sets of supersoft, but Gutierrez has an extra set of mediums, while Romain Grosjean has extra softs.
DRS Zones
The Hungaroring has two DRS zones but just one detection point, which comes five metres before the final corner of the lap.
The first activation point comes at the exit of that corner, as the drivers accelerate onto the start/finish straight. After braking hard for the first corner, the second DRS activation point comes on the exit of Turn 1 for the short run down to the second corner.
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Hungarian Grand Prix Weather
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"The track is dusty, and the race is hot." That succinct description from the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix media guide sums up the race very well.
The Hungaroring is in the small town of Mogyorod, northeast of Budapest, where the summers are generally warm and dry. It did rain for the 2014 race, but that was an anomaly in its three-decade history.
Rain is unlikely this weekend, with highs of 30 degrees Celsius forecast for Friday and Saturday and 28 degrees for race day, according to AccuWeather at the time of publication. Apart from some cloudy periods, the weekend should be sunny and dry.
Because of the heat, thermal degradation will be a limiting factor on the tyres in Hungary, per the Pirelli race preview. At least we shouldn't have to worry about another disappointing start behind the safety car.
Hungarian Grand Prix Odds
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Given his recent form and successful history in Budapest, Hamilton is a clear favourite to take his fifth Hungarian Grand Prix victory this weekend. Aside from the Mercedes, Red Bull's Ricciardo and Verstappen have the lowest odds.
The best odds available for the top-10 favourites at the Hungaroring are:
| Driver | Odds |
|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 6-5 |
| Nico Rosberg | 10-3 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 8-1 |
| Max Verstappen | 8-1 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 16-1 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 50-1 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 125-1 |
| Sergio Perez | 125-1 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 250-1 |
| Fernando Alonso | 250-1 |
Selected Others
Mercedes always seem to have a little extra speed in qualifying, but Verstappen has 10-1 odds to take his first pole position and win the race. If you're looking for a slightly more eccentric bet, though, it's 33-1 that the Dutch teenager gets caught speeding in the pit lane.
The race winner in Hungary has come from pole position just four times in the last 10 years, so 3-1 odds for the winner to come from second on the grid or 4-1 from third are attractive. Or it's 33-1 for the winner to come from fifth, sixth or seventh.
Mercedes may have instituted harsh penalties for their drivers if they collide again, but if you think they won't get through that first tight corner at the Hungaroring, both Hamilton and Rosberg are 30-1 to be the first retirement on Sunday.
All odds are taken from Oddschecker and correct at the time of publication.
Hungarian Grand Prix Session Times and TV Times
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Here are the times for the three free practice sessions, qualifying and the race:
| Session | Day | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Friday | 10 a.m. |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 2 p.m. |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 11 a.m. |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 2 p.m. |
| Race | Sunday | 2 p.m. |
The above times are in local Budapest time (CEST, UTC+2). You can convert the times to your local time zone using the helpful tool on the official F1 website.
TV Times
In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports F1 and Channel 4 will have live coverage of all the sessions. The programming start times are as follows (all times BST):
| Session | Day | Time (Sky Sports) | Time (Channel 4) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Friday | 8:45 a.m. | 8:55 a.m. |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 12:45 p.m. | 12:55 p.m. |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 9:45 a.m. | 9:55 a.m. |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 12 p.m. | 11:55 a.m. |
| Race | Sunday | 11:30 a.m. | 12 p.m. |
In the United States, NBC has live coverage of all the sessions on CNBC, NBCSN and the NBC Sports app, with programming start times as follows (all times EDT):
| Session | Day | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Friday | 4 a.m. (NBC Sports app) |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 8 a.m. (NBC Sports app) |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 5 a.m. (NBC Sports app) |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 8 a.m. (CNBC) |
| Race | Sunday | 7:00 a.m. (NBCSN) |
Enjoy the race and the rest of the weekend!
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