McLaren's Oscar Piastri starts in P2 and he told Sky Sports: "We will see what we can do, it should be a good day for us I think."

On strategy: "If I can get the lead at Turn One that would make my life significantly easier but if not, then the strategy."

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Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at the Hungaroring

Image source, Pirelli 2025

The Hungarian Grand Prix is always a tricky race from a strategic point of view, because the difficult of overtaking makes pit stops a key way of gaining places. That’s especially interesting this year as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is on pole but is not expected to have the race pace of the McLarens.

So if Leclerc can keep the lead at the first couple of corners, McLaren then have to plot a way past. For Leclerc, keeping the lead is critical to his hopes. Equally, if one McLaren driver can get ahead of him at the start and the other can’t, that’s probably the win decided.

The race is expected primarily to be run on the medium and hard tyres, and is probably a two-stop, although higher tyre degradation would push it towards a three. The cooler conditions of race day make tyre wear an unknown.

The summer break is nearly upon us, so who will be heading off on holiday with the advantage in the championship?

Second spot on the grid proved to be the winning position at Belgian Grand Prix and Oscar Piastri will be hoping the same thing is true in Hungary. His victory last weekend put a 16-point buffer between himself and team-mate McLaren Lando Norris, while Max Verstappen sits 81 points behind the Australian in third.

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There's been a handful of celebrities spotted this weekend at the Hungaroring.

Actors Anya Taylor-Joy and Malcolm McRae have been at several races this year hanging out in the Ferrari garage and Anthony Mackie has joined them this time round.

Singer Axl Rose has been in the Red Bull garage and actor Jamie Dornan is a guest of McLaren.

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Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster

Much cooler conditions compared to Saturday. Air temperature is 22C and the track 33.3C; light west-northwest wind with gusts to 16mph in the past hour.

Dry; nearest shower is ~50km to the south-southwest. FIA official risk of rain is 20%.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at the Hungaroring

Image source, Getty Images

Aston Martin locked out the back row of the grid in Belgium just a week ago, the car's high drag handicapping it on the long, high-speed sections at Spa-Francorchamps.

The tight, twisty nature of the Hungaroring played much more to its strengths, and the team have also been boosted by upgrades to the car in recent races.

Both drivers were just over 0.1secs off pole, by far their best performance of the season.

Fernando Alonso said: "Since P1, we felt competitive and a very different layout from Spa seven days ago. We were last row of the grid and now we are fifth and sixth.

"So a huge change and we need to understand why and we need to learn what is benefiting the car here, and we need to take these lessons into the next grands prix."

Slash, I could easily pick out in a line-up. Axl Rose? I would probably struggle these days. But the man himself is here today to watch the Hungarian Grand Prix - and he's waving the chequered flag a bit later on.

National anthem time, but it's not performed by Axl, and it's a beautiful rendition.

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Image source, Getty Images

Red Bull's Max Verstappen will start down in P8, he said: "It's a bit difficult for us to know at the moment and it has been difficult for us all weekend.

"We're going to give it a good go, hopefully we can race with a few cars ahead of us and we don't need to look too much in the mirrors, but time will tell.

"The sun is coming out a little bit as well so it will be a bit warmer, but I'm going to try my best."

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Max Verstappen put to bed any lingering doubts he could leave Red Bull by confirming this week he wil be staying with the team for the 2026 season - so no Mercedes switch anytime soon.

The weekend for Red Bull has been disappointing so far, with both Verstappen and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda struggling with balance issues and a lack of pace causing a lot of head scratching; even set-up changes hasn't solved the mystery.

Verstappen is starting down in eighth place today with the two Racing Bulls rookies parked just behind at the lower end of the top 10. But despite his unfamiliar position on grid, this is a day of celebration for the four-time world champion, as the Hungarian Grand Prix marks his 200th race appearance for Red Bull.

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McLaren's Lando Norris, who starts in third, spoke to Sky Sports on the weather conditions: "It's dry so we've put the slicks on. There's a small chance of another shower coming through soon, so we will wait and see but we're in no rush to do anything.

"We've got our plans for the dry and if it's wet, it's a bit more freestyle. The track has probably reset a little bit so it means tyre wear is a bit higher than it would be normally."

On the start and getting ahead of pole sitter Charles Leclerc: "It's a long race and Oscar [Piastri] starts in a better position to try and achieve that but the position is also not a bad position to start in.

"We both know what we want to do and we've got to try and do some overtaking and have a bit of fun, but that's always part of it so I will do my best to do exactly that."

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Another Q3 appearance in your rookie season definitely deserves a hug from your two-time world champion manager.

Gabriel Bortoleto, who starts in seventh - and that would be his best finish of the campaign so far if he stays there - said Saturday's qualifying was special, as his start to the weekend in first and second practice was "one of the worst" he'd experienced.

"Being able to change the car all over the place and putting the confidence back in and putting the laps together in quali was extremely important," the Brazilian added.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at the Hungaroring

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Of the leading runners on the grid, Leclerc and McLaren each have one set of medium tyres and two sets of hards to play with - and both of Leclerc’s sets of hards are new, while only one of those available to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are.

Aston Martin in a strong fifth and sixth on the grid could be at a strategic disadvantage, as they are left with only one set each of mediums and hards, so they will have to use the softs at some point. Doing so at the start would be a big risk as it could mean an early pit stop into traffic that would then ruin their race.

A pit stop costs 20 seconds or so under green flag conditions, half that under safety car. The DRS effect is large because the rear wings are so big - up to 20km/h or so. And gives about 0.45secs of lap time.

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We heard a frustrated Lewis Hamilton say the words "every time, every time" after he was eliminated in the second part of qualifying yesterday. But what did it mean?

Once the pole celebrations had finished, we found out. Speaking to Sky Sports, a distraught Hamilton said: "It’s me every time. I’m just useless."

If that wasn't a shock to hear from the mouth of a seven-time world champion, he then continued: "The team has no problem. The second car is on pole, so they probably just need to change driver."

Belgium was also a disappointing qualifying day for Hamilton, who ended up starting from the pit lane after a Q1 exit. He did climbed through the field last weekend, though, making several overtakes to finish seventh. He starts 12th today alongside fellow Brit Ollie Bearman on the sixth row.

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On the championship battle between McLarens Oscar Pisatri and Lando Norris, CEO Zak Brown told Sky Sports: "We enjoy it, we're racers, so to see them battle it out like we've seen now in a handful of races is exciting for us.

"We're not doing anything differently, we don't feel any tension rising. We know obviously there's a lot at stake but it's all very positive and we're enjoying it.

"We're not intimated or concerned, we know it's going to be tough. But we've got a great relationship with both drivers, very open and transparent, so I see no reason why they can't have an epic fight to the finish. May the best driver win."

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What will the tactics be over at McLaren today? Instead of a front-row lockout, which looked nailed on from the get-go, the team now find themselves with the conundrum of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris being behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, on a karting-like track that's hard to overtake on.

They have the race pace, no doubt, to put Leclerc under pressure early. But there's also the title fight to think about. So, do Piastri and Norris go for the tag-team option and work together to get ahead? Or will it be every man for himself with precious points up for grabs.

Hungary was the scene of Piastri's maiden victory in Formula 1 last year. On that day, he took the win from second on the grid amid a team orders back and forth with polesitter Norris.

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The change in wind direction and coolling track temperatures were the main weather factors in play during yesterday's qualifying session.

For today's 70-lap race, the temperatures have cooled once again but the threat of rain has decreased, opening the door for a dry start at 3pm local time.

This isn't the most glamorous shot of the circuit but it does give an idea of what the skies look like at the moment.

Pit lane is open.

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The highest Charles Leclerc has finished in Hungary is fourth place (he's suffered a few DNFs here, too) and his last race victory was at the United States Grand Prix in 2024.

Ferrari haven't had a sniff of a main win so far this season but it has been Leclerc who has secured all of their podium finishes in 2025: his latest one coming last weekend in Belgium when he kept Max Verstappen's Red Bull at arm's length to take third.

But the McLarens are a different beast compared to this year's Red Bull and four of Oscar Piastri's seven career wins have been claimed when he hasn't started on pole position.

The other kicker for Leclerc? Pole hasn't won at the Hungaroring in the past four grands prix.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at the Hungaroring

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Charles Leclerc said that revisions to the car at the last race in Belgium had helped his confidence when pushing to the limit over one qualifying lap.

Ferrari introduced a new rear suspension which, in addition to being aimed at allowing them to run the car lower without risking damaging the floor to the extent that car failed its post-race legality tests, was also intended to improve driveability when combined with a new floor introduced three races ago in Austria.

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Charles Leclerc said on Thursday the Hungaroring was "by far the worst track of the season" for him. When asked why, he was stumped. "I wish I knew. It's probably something with my driving style," he said. "I've got to work a little bit harder compared to other tracks, but that's fine."

And work hard he did, as a sensational run in Q3 put him ahead of the two McLarens and the Mercedes of George Russell. Leclerc will need to defend off the line from championship leader Oscar Piastri, who was 0.026 seconds behind in P2.

After an Italian classic "Mamma mia!" cry over the team radio, Leclerc, who was gobsmacked at his achievement, said: "Today, I don't understand anything in F1. The whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. And when I say that, it is not an exaggeration."

Yuki Tsunoda is on the move already. After a Q1 exit in 16th place at the Hungaroring, Red Bull decided to make changes to the Japanese driver's car during parc ferme, taking on new power unit elements, so it's another pit lane start for Tsunoda this season.

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