Wet Hungarian Grand Prixs aren't incredibly common, but teams are at least taking a glance at the radar ahead of the final race before the summer break.
The Hungaroring hosts race number 14 of the season this weekend, with qualifying Saturday and the 70-lap race on Sunday.
The track is loaded up with tight corners and difficult braking zones, making a wet race here a particularly difficult one.
What to know about the Hungarian Grand Prix
- The Hungarian Grand Prix has been held at the Hungaroring since 1986.
- Qualifying is set for 10 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, and the race is at 9 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. In the U.S., the race airs on ESPN and qualifying on ESPN2. For times and channels elsewhere in the North America, Europe and Oceania, click here.
- The 70-lap race's defending winner is Oscar Piastri. Piastri holds a 16-point advantage over teammate Lando Norris coming into the weekend. Norris won pole last year in a controversial race where Norris gave up the lead to Piastri due to some issues with pit strategy.
- F1 goes on summer break after this race. It's a four-week pause, with racing picking back up on August 27-29 for the Dutch Grand Prix.
How common are wet races at the Hungarian Grand Prix?
There hasn't been a wet race at the Hungaroring of any kind since 2021, when the field started the race on intermediate tires. Valtteri Bottas made sure the race came to a screeching halt when he went bowling into Lando Norris and Sergio Perez in a wreck that also involved Max Verstappen, Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo.
The race went into a red flag, and by the time racing resumed, everyone but Lewis Hamilton pitted onto dry tires during the formation lap, which led to some famous (or infamous) photography.
In 2020, cars also started on wet tires, but quickly ditched them early in the race. The previous wet race before that was in 2014 in yet another case of a wet track at the start, but drivers went to dry tires in the first quarter of the grand prix.
What is the weather forecast for qualifying on Saturday?
F1 qualifying is due to begin at 4 p.m. local time on Saturday (10 a.m. Eastern in the United States).
Fans looking for a wild qualifying conditions will be disappointed, with sun in the forecast and little chance for precipitation.
Here is the hour-by-hour forecast, via AccuWeather.
Local time in Hungary | Forecast |
|---|---|
12 p.m. (30 mins before final practice) | Mostly sunny - 1% chance of precipitation - 83F/28.3C |
1 p.m. | Mostly sunny - 3% chance of precipitation - 84F/28.9C |
2 p.m. | Mostly sunny - 7% chance of precipitation - 85F/29.4C |
3 p.m. | Mostly sunny - 7% chance of precipitation - 86F/30C |
4 p.m. (beginning of qualifying) | Mostly sunny - 7% chance of precipitation - 88F/31.1C |
5 p.m. | Mostly sunny - 7% chance of precipitation - 86F/30C |
What is the weather forecast for the grand prix on Saturday?
There are storms in the forecast for Sunday as of Friday evening ... but they look to be far before the lights go out for F1.
Storms are possible in the morning hours which could affect the F2 and F3 feature races, but as of now, the F1 race will likely not be affected.
But forecasts seem to always shift dramatically when F1 comes to town!
The race starts at 3 p.m. local time, 9 a.m. Eastern in the U.S. Here is the hour-by-hour forecast, via AccuWeather.
Local time in Hungary | Forecast |
|---|---|
8 a.m. (30 minutes before start of F3 race) | Cloudy - 47% chance of rain - 66F/18.9C |
9 a.m. | Chance of thunderstorms - 51% chance of rain - 67F/19.4C |
10 a.m. (start of F2 race) | Chance of thunderstorms - 51% chance of rain - 69F/20.6C |
11 a.m. | Mostly cloudy - 38% chance of rain - 71F/21.7C |
12 p.m. | Mostly cloudy - 32% chance of rain - 73F/22.8C |
1 p.m. | Cloudy - 28% chance of rain - 75F/23.9C |
2 p.m. | Cloudy - 20% chance of rain - 76F/24.4C |
3 p.m. (start of F1 race) | Cloudy - 20% chance of rain - 77F/25C |
4 p.m. | Cloudy - 28% chance of rain - 79F/26.1C |
5 p.m. | Cloudy - 28% chance of rain - 77F/25C |