The FIA has shared details about track limits, circuit changes, DRS zones and more for F1 Hungarian GP, as Mercedes pair talk about suspension change.
The track limits remains the white lines as per the FIA Race Directors’ note for this weekend’s F1 Hungarian GP at Hungaroring. In addition, the drivers will have to negotiate Turn 14 exit within the set rules – failing of which will result in laps deletion and potential penalty.
The FIA has also marked the track edge at the pit exit with dotted white lines. Apart from the work undertaken to uplift the Hungaroring circuit, the promoters updated parts of the track too, which includes resurface work on the main straight. The whole list of changes are:
- Resurfaced the main straight.
- Changed the grass strip exit turn 5 to a gravel strip.
- New concrete blocks with fences at Turn 14 LHS until the bridge.
- Resurfaced the pit lane.
- Alignment of the white line and added a blue line at the exit of Turn 7.
In terms of the DRS zones, the detection point for both the zones is at 5m before Turn 14, while the activation for first is 40m after Turn 14 and for the second, it is 6m after Turn 1. As for the FIA stewards panel, it will be headed by Felix Holter for this weekend’s F1 Hungarian GP.
He will have the support of Matthew Selly, Derek Warwick and Istvan Moni. The FP1 rookie watch will see Paul Aron get his second chance with Sauber in place of Nico Hulkenberg, as he is the only change announced before the F1 summer break sets in.
FP1 rookie sessions completed thus far (per team needs to do four sessions) –
McLaren: Alex Dunne (Lando Norris, Austria)
Ferrari: Dino Beganovic (Charles Leclerc, Bahrain & Austria)
Red Bull: Ayumu Iwasa (Max Verstappen, Bahrain), Arvid Lindblad (Yuki Tsunoda, Britain)
Mercedes: Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Australia, China); Frederick Vesti (George Russell, Bahrain)
Williams: Luke Browning (Carlos Sainz, Bahrain); Victor Martins (Alexander Albon, Spain)
Visa Cash App RB: Isack Hadjar (Australia, China)
Haas: Ryo Hirakawa (Oliver Bearman, Bahrain; Esteban Ocon, Spain)
Aston Martin: Felipe Drugovich (Fernando Alonso, Bahrain)
Alpine: Jack Doohan/Ryo Hirakawa (Australia, Japan)
Sauber: Gabriel Bortoleto (Australia, China), Paul Aron (Nico Hulkenberg, Britain)
Mercedes –
Following on from the performance last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, Mercedes has decided to go back to its old suspension – in F1 Hungarian GP weekend – to identity the issues it has faced since the Imola update. The F1 team pointed at the front wing directive last weekend and is now taking steps to understand the core issue.
The suspension and front wing seems to be a linked issue and it has somewhat hurt Andrea Kimi Antonelli more than George Russell. The Italian’s results has dipped as he is forced to alter his driving style. “This weekend we are going back on the old suspension and that hopefully will bring the feeling back, because since we moved to that suspension, apart from Canada, I’ve been struggling to drive the car and getting the confidence,” he said to media.
“And probably also my side I didn’t adapt the best, because I was always trying to keep my style, and to drive the car the way I wanted, but it didn’t really work out. And George, on the other hand, has been adapting better. Also, he has a different driving style, but he’s been able to adapt a bit better. And I think that’s what’s been hurting me in this European season.
“So hopefully, by going back to the old suspension, it will bring back a bit the feeling I had prior to the start of the European season. [It will be for] both cars, hopefully it will be better. Definitely Montreal is a very special track. The grip is very high, the tarmac is quite closed. But at the end of the day in Montreal it’s all straight line braking, and then you have the chicanes, which is all about setting the car nicely on the first part, and then accelerating for the second part.
“So the new suspension was really good for straight line braking and combined traction, it was giving us a really good combined traction phase. So that was the best for Montreal, and that’s why we were so strong. So I think that’s that was the main thing. Montreal is such a special track, and it was really good for our suspension, mainly because we had no real combined entry corner at high speed. When we went back after Canada, obviously we faced really high-speed tracks, and that I think hurt even more the confidence, just because it was quite tricky.
“And as I said before, with my driving, I was making the car even more unpredictable. So especially if you have an unpredictable car in a high-speed circuit, it’s really hard to push it to the limit, because you never know if it’s going to stick or not. I think in this case I like to have back to backs, because obviously you’re in the rhythm, which is nice.
“At the same time [Spa was] a difficult weekend, and I really want to do well this weekend before going to the summer break. And I think if I would have had a big gap, would have been really hard, because I would have been busting my balls the whole time. So I’m happy that we have another race weekend straight after,” summed up Antonelli.
When asked if the technical directive about the front wing played a role, Antonelli was in affirmative about it. “For sure the front wing changed the behaviour of the car and definitely we felt the change,” he continued. “Also, we have brought new front wings but of course going to the new front wing, it definitely changed a bit of balance in the car and it needed a little bit of adjustment in driving, because the front wing had different characteristics – obviously not behaving the same way. It required a bit of adjustment in the set-up.”
Teammate Russell backed Antonelli’s say on the topic. He reckons the step to go back on the suspension is to get back to a baseline of performance and then take it from there. “That was meant to be a secret, it’s been on the cards for a little while,” he said. “It’s part of development. We’ve seen it in other teams as well. This season, they bring things to the car, and you’re looking for that last sort of tenth of a second, and you often see the gains.
“Before you put it on the car you don’t know what the limitations are going to be. So there’s no guarantee. That’s the reason why we’ve taken a step back. It could be a factor. We’ll use this weekend to assess. But if you just look at the results as a whole, we clearly have gone backwards, and we need to go back to a baseline that we know.
“Not as yet [that we have identified the core issue] because until we will not revert back to the baseline and see proof, you can’t categorically say that is the reason. Obviously, they are complex cars. We are obviously in the summer months where tyre overheating is worse in general. But, of course, Spa was cold and we struggled. Right now, we’ve got ideas, as most teams do, why they’re not winning the World Championship.
“That’s just the fact of the matter. We’ll revert back. I don’t expect we’re going to set the world on fire this weekend. But I hope we can be back in that comfortable top-five mix and fight for some good points without stressing our Q1 and Q2 exits. [We are changing] because it’s slower. It’s as simple as that. Kimi has struggled more than I have with the suspension, but my results have also been worse, collectively.
“These last six races have been the worst races of our season. At the start of the year, I had much more confidence. The laps were coming easy, whereas now it’s much more challenging. There are never guarantees, but I think that could be a small part,” summed up Russell.
Here’s full FIA Race Directors’ note: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_hungarian_grand_prix_-_race_directors_event_notes_.pdf
UPDATE: Aston Martin noted that Felipe Drugovich would fill in for Fernando Alonso to start the F1 Hungarian GP weekend in FP1 due to the Spaniard’s muscular injury at his back. A call on for the rest of the weekend will be taken following the end of FP1.
“In the days following the Belgian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso has been managing a muscular injury in his back,” said the statement. “As he continues with treatment this morning, he has chosen to sit out of FP1. Felipe Drugovich will drive in FP1 alongside Lance Stroll. A decision will then be made on Fernando’s participation in FP2 and the remainder of the weekend in due course.”
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