Feature

Chris Medland’s 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix preview

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What time does the Hungarian Grand Prix start? What channel is the Hungarian Grand Prix on? The answers to all of that and more in F1i’s race preview

Remember Monaco? Then you should be looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix with great excitement this weekend, even if you’re a Mercedes fan. Daniel Ricciardo took pole position in Monaco and the Hungaroring is the closest circuit F1 has visited in terms of track characteristics since. Fortunately for Red Bull, the weather at Silverstone and feuding team-mates in Austria kept Max Verstappen close to Mercedes, but this weekend could see the championship leaders really tested on outright pace. As if that prospect wasn’t good enough in isolation, remember Ferrari won in Hungary last year courtesy of Sebastian Vettel, and there’s just one point between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at this stage, with Hamilton yet to lead the standings this year. Oh, and it might rain. Again.

FORM GUIDE

Hamilton was in superb form in his home race, but Rosberg looked set to push him hard in the closing laps before a gearbox problem stopped his charge. Radio messages regarding the problem later saw Rosberg penalised and demoted to third, to the benefit of the spectacular Max Verstappen who pulled off arguably the pass of the season around the outside of Rosberg at Becketts. Daniel Ricciardo was a distant fourth in his own race, as Ferrari and Williams both struggled relative to the front two teams. Force India has emerged as a serious threat to Williams and has yet to find a circuit it can’t score heavily at, while McLaren and Toro Rosso will be hoping the tight and twisty nature of the Hungaroring negates their respective power unit deficits. It’s a track where Mercedes has not won since 2013.

2015 RESULT

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 1:22.020

Top three: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), 1:24.821

SESSION TIMES (All times local)

FP1: 10:00 - 11:30

FP2: 14:00 - 15:30

FP3: 11:00 - 12:00

Qualifying: 14:00 - 15:00

Race: 1400

TYRE CHOICES

©Pirelli

WEATHER FORECAST

What is it about this F1 season and wet weather? After a rain-hit qualifying session in Austria and a torrential downpour which required a safety car start at Silverstone, there’s another threat of rain in Hungary. Friday should be dry and hot - typical Budapest conditions - before expected rain on Saturday morning could impact on FP3 and perhaps even qualifying. While it remains hot, race day is forecast to see scattered thunderstorms, and Hungary can deliver some pretty spectacular downpours…

UK TELEVISION TIMINGS (All times UK)

Sky Sports F1 - Live coverage

FP1 - 0845

FP2 - 1245

FP3 - 0945

Qualifying - 1200

Race - 1130

Channel 4 - Live coverage

FP1 - 0855

FP2 - 1255

FP3 - 0955

Qualifying - 1155

Race - 1200

PODIUM PREDICTION

1st - Max Verstappen

2nd - Lewis Hamilton

3rd - Daniel Ricciardo

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.