Hungaroring Awaits

The Hungarian Grand Prix is held at the famous Hungaroring circuit 20km outside of Budapest. Getting there was a bit of a mission with metro, rail and bus all required. It took about 1.5 hours each way (except there was a delay on the way back due to numbers requiring the bus from the track – need more busses). The track itself is set in the beautiful Hungarian countryside with rolling hills and trees everywhere. The venue is made for grandstands. We made a mistake in going General Admission (GA) as the facilities were very poor. Too few water stations, most toilets were porta-loos (old style – no ventilation), queues for everything. The GA areas had some great views of the track but no screens whatsoever. Screens are essential for the race particularly when there is no radio commentary or wifi, you need to be able to know what’s going on in the race, not just the bit of track in front of you. Even when we found a slope with a bit of track view and a view of the main FanZone screen, the video feed broke as soon as the race started. The fanzone screen was separate from the grandstand screens (which kept working) and was linked to a laptop in a shed! Due to non existent wifi and limited cellular network, the fanzone screen kept shutting off. Very disappointing. Note: if you intend to go to the Hungaroring race make sure you get a seat in a grandstand, although we heard that the security gave up at the main grandstand and people without tickets just walked in and sat on the stairs! This venue has GP rights until 2032. We have got to hope they improve their transportation and general facilities, especially for GA. Our experience was disappointing compared to all the other GP’s we’ve attended.

Now to the racing. Great qualies with Hamilton squeezing everything from the Mercedes to gain pole position! Who saw that coming? Both McLarens repeating their great performance from Silverstone and Alpha Romeos suddenly looking good with 5th and 7th placing! No-one saw that one coming. Alonso got to 8th and both Ferrari’s looking disappointing with 6th and 11th placing. The return of Daniel Ricciardo was met with great excitement and he managed 13th and Alpine looked to be struggling again. Lando and Hamilton have a huge fan base here, perhaps due to the huge number of UK fans at the venue, it’s one of the cheapest European GPs to attend.

The scene was set for a titanic battle between two old foes who barely talk to each other and two young guns in papaya breathing down both their necks. Really exciting! Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, ie video feed died, we did not see the start until we got back to the flat! However, Hamilton did not have a great start, Verstappen did, and so did Norris and Piastri! The start of the race saw Zhou bashing into Daniel who, in turn, hit the Alpines.Both Alpines were out of the race before it really began. They must wondering who they have insulted in a previous life with their run of bad luck. In less that a minute Hamilton was in fourth and Verstappen was, again, in the lead. A pity because as soon as that occurred the result was a foregone conclusion barring an act of God! The race was then really between “the rest” with Checo and Russel fighting their way up and McLaren making great strategic decisions to keep their podium hopes alive! Max won with Norris second and Checo third – a great race from the driver of the day. The Alpha Romeos disappeared and Hamilton came 4th and Piastri 5th. It was a fantastic race with lots of action.