Need to know ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix

This weekend sees teams and drivers compete in Budapest with the Hungaroring staging the Hungarian Grand Prix, Round 12 of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship. F1Technical's senior writer picks out the key facts ahead of today's Budapest F1 race.

Today’s Hungarian Grand Prix will be the 38th F1 race in Hungary. The track that is situated just on the outskirts of Hungary’s capital Budapest made its debut in 1986 and has run uninterrupted since. Only Monza has a record of a longer run of consecutive races which has staged a race in every single year since 1950 with the exception of 1980 when Imola hosten the Italian Grand Prix.

Long history – Although Hungary joined the F1 circus in 1986, one needs to look back further to find the first ever Hungarian Grand Prix. The first GP was held in 1936 over a 5km track laid out in Népliget, a huge park in Budapest. That race was only staged once with Alfa Romeo’s Tazio Nuvolari taking the victory.

King of the ring - Lewis Hamilton still holds the record for most wins in Hungary. The Briton has won eight times, taking victory both for McLaren and Mercedes. Michael Schumacher is the second most successful drivers with four triumphs followed by Ayrton Senna with three victories.

The fastest lap – The British seven-time world champion not only holds the record for most wins around the Hungaroring, but he also claims the fastest ever race lap. The Stevenage-born driver recorded a lap of 1m16.627s at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Short – With 4381m, the Hungaroring is one of its shortest tracks on the current calendar. Fans usually love the short nature of the circuit as during the race they can witness the cars 70 times roaring past the grandstands. The total race distance is 306.630km. Drivers have to adhere to the speed limit of 80km/h in the rather tight and hence slightly dangerous pit lane.

Other records – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen secured his first pole position on the Hungaroring, setting the fastest lap in the qualifying session for the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix. When it comes to fastest laps, it is the German seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who holds the record with four.

Changes – New tyre barriers have been installed on the right-hand side in Turn 2. Furthermore, the guardrail on the right-hand side in Turn 2 has been replaced with a concrete barrier and debris fencing.

Drag reduction system - There will be two consecutive DRS zones at the Hungaroring sharing a detection point 5m before Turn 14. Activation points are 40m after Turn 14 and 6m after Turn 1.

The softest – Formula One's tyre supplier Pirelli brought its softest compounds to the Hungaroring: C3 as the P Zero White hard, C4 as the P Zero Yellow medium, C5 as the P Zero Red soft. This is a softer allocation than it was last year with the selection having been motivated by the fact that drivers had difficulties with warm-up on the cooler surface of the Hungaroring in 2022.

Traction - The twisty Hungarian race course isn’t a particularly high-energy circuit, with smooth asphalt that’s sometimes bumpy in places, and the demands on tyres being more about traction than braking.

Technical - The tight and twisty Hungaroring is often likened to Monaco due to its nature. The 4.3km track is one of the slowest permanent tracks on the Formula 1 calendar and it's often referred to as an oversized go-kart track due to its slow corners and wide, elongated kerbs. In fact, it was even slower in the past until 2003 when the layout underwent some changed: the length of the pit straight was extended by around 200 metres to make it 908 metres long.

Home hero - Hungary has only ever had one Formula 1 driver: Zsolt Baumgartner. The Hungarian made his debut in 2003 on home turf when he was drafted in to replace Ralph Firman, who crashed heavily in practce. Baumgartner then joined Minardi for the following year and scored a championship point at the United States Grand Prix.