Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Prediction: Summer classic at the Hungaroring

The Formula 1 caravan reached its 13th stop this season. Next is Hungary and the well-known Hungaroring track. Lewis Hamilton will try to repeat what he did two weeks ago, while Max Verstappen will look for a way back to the top step of the podium. He hasn't won two races in a row, which hasn't happened to him in two years. Lewis Hamilton reached another great achievement in his impressive career two weeks ago. He won his home Grand Prix at Silverstone for a record ninth time and made history. For a long time, the record stood at eight victories by one driver on the same track: Hamilton collected the 'eight' at home and in Hungary, while Michael Schumacher managed the same at France's Magny Cours. From these data, it can be read that a new opportunity for the "nine" is already smiling at Lewis this coming weekend, but he will need a miracle to overtake and win against Verstappen and superior Mclaren’s drivers.

The Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring track has been held continuously since 1986. It was the first Formula 1 race that took place in this part of Europe, but it was successfully kept in the calendar and according to the contract signed last year, it has a guaranteed place until 2032. In terms of the number of victories in Hungary, no one is even close to Hamilton. Michael Schumacher is halfway there, with four victories. Ayrton Senna won three times, and as many as seven drivers have two victories at the Hungaroring. Of the active drivers, Max Verstappen, the winner in 2022 and 2023, is in that company. Daniel Ricciardo celebrated in 2014, and Esteban Ocon in 2021.

Lando Norris secured the third pole position in Formula 1 with a great lap at the Hungaroring, with which he beat his teammate Oscar Piastri, thus securing McLaren's first starting row ahead of Max Verstappen in Red Bull for the first time since 2012. Norris was three-tenths faster than the competition after the first Q3 attempts. But before Norris could drive his second Q3 lap, Tsunoda caused a red flag with a crash at turn five, two minutes and 13 seconds before time expired. Although qualifying continued, no one improved their time and McLaren could begin to celebrate their first 1-2 starting position since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix when Hamilton and Button were first and second. Verstappen couldn’t do better than third in the upgraded Red Bull RB20, while Sainz was fourth despite having a fairly large gap of nearly half a second. Hamilton finished fifth for Mercedes on a weekend where they could not keep up with the pace of Verstappen and McLaren while Leclerc was sixth in the second Ferrari.

It would be stupid to say that Red Bull and Verstappen are in some kind of crisis, but in two years they got us used to such dominance, that two races without a win is news. The last time something like this happened was in 2022 when Ferrari tied victories in Great Britain and Austria, and this year Mercedes in the same races, only in reverse order. We will see if this weekend Max will return to his winning habits and celebrate in Hungary for the third time in a row. Verstappen said that the car is ok, and he expect more of himself and the team during the race.

OUR PREDICTION: Max Verstappen to win