With only a few more hours to lights out at the 2026 Hungarian GP, its safe to say that we will have an interesting race ahead of us. After the qualifying session yesterday, there were a couple of penalties handed over to key drivers in the Championship battle. These penalties have given the spectators a chance at a exciting Hungarian GP.
Lewis Hamilton, after qualifying 2nd, acquired a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri, who was on his hotlap. The penalty was a obvious one as it was clear that the 7-time champion was at fault. The 2nd penalty went to Kimi Antonelli for ignoring yellow flags during his hotlap. This was a slightly more tricky penalty to hand.
During the final runs in Q3, Max Verstappen spun his RB22, causing single waved yellow flags to be thrown in the final sector of the track. Kimi, coming up behind the Dutch driver, did attempt to slow down, but did not want to make the mistake he had made in Austria that cost him pole position. However, the stewards ruled that he had not lifted enough for the single waved yellow and gave him a 3-place grid penalty.
My top 10 predictions for the Hungarian GP
With Lando Norris starting on pole position, he will have the advantage to win the race. However, Charles Leclerc, starting 2nd, has been in great form over the past couple of races. Having won in Silverstone and finishing 2nd in Spa, he will have the confidence needed to get his Ferrari past the leading McLaren. But we are yet to see how the newly updated McLaren performs in the race trim, so that would be one aspect to look out for.
| Position | Driver | Constructor |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari |
| 4 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine |
There is no denying that Lewis Hamilton has been on his best form this weekend. The penalty he received for impeding was unfortunate, but the chances are that he will be able to gain back places to finish on the podium. The Championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, should also be on the charge to get as close to the podium as possible. Right now, his focus is on increasing his Championship lead, over winning the race. I believe this will motivate him to climb up the grid, but I don't think Mercedes has the pace to get past the Ferrari this weekend.
Max Verstappen has also been strong throughout the weekend. Despite his little spin in Q3 yesterday, we can expect him to push through and get the best result possible. But he doesn't seem to have the pace to keep up with the leaders. This could lead to overtakes from Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli behind him.
While Oscar Piastri is starting 3rd for the Grand Prix, his pace has not been as strong as his teammate. It seems more likely that he won't be able to hold on to his podium position. Coming to the 2nd Mercedes driver, George Russell, his pace has been weak all season. Although the team claims that the issues he had faced in past Grad Prix have been solved, we are yet to see the pace needed to win races and the Championship from the British driver.
What are the potential tyre strategies for the Hungarian GP?
With no rain predicted for the race, the strategy from the teams need to be spot on. The Hungaroring is not an easy track to overtake in. So the teams will have to utilize the undercuts and the overcuts to gain track position. The teams have a number of strategies they could choose from. But there are two that are more likely than the others. The one-stop and the two-stop strategies.
Last year, it was a strategy battle between the two McLaren drivers on two different strategies. Piastri had gone for the 2-stop while Norris had gone for the one-stop. At the end, Lando was able to hold off Piastri to take the win. However, this year could be a lot different. With overtaking potentially becoming easier, we could see the 2-stop work better than it did last year.
Ferrari driver, Lewis Hamilton, could be electing to take a two-stop strategy to gain back positions he lost due to the penalty. We have seen him do something similar at the Barcelona GP this year that won him the race. He even wanted to go for a 2-stop strategy at the Belgian GP, but his 5-second penalty caused the team to change his strategy.
It will be interesting to see which drivers choose which strategy for the Hungarian GP. Post your podium predictions for the Grand Prix in the comments section below.
