The Title Battle Heats Up in Hungary: Formula 2 Preview
- therookiereporters
- Jul 31
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 1
This weekend, the world of Formula 1 takes on the Hungaroring circuit, bringing the Formula 2 series along with it. Let's have a look at the weekend.
It's the final stop on the European tour before the summer break, taking us to the bustling city of Budapest, Hungary which has become a staple of the F2 calendar yearly since 2017, barring 2021. This circuit has always brought great strategic races, leaving the fans entertained throughout. With past winners at this track going on to become F1 drivers like Doohan, Albon and Mick Schumacher, this is a proving ground and passage towards possibly realising their F1 dream.
Track Analysis
The Hungaroring is a 4.381 km track consisting of 14 turns with a mixture of low, medium and high speed corners. This provides a test of commitment and precision, especially at the end of sector 1 over the blind crest, which takes the utmost bravery but also a huge amount of skill to keep the car within track limits on the exit. Despite being one of the smallest tracks on the calendar, nicknamed ‘Monaco without walls’, this track makes up for its short track length with its high-octane track action, usually fuelled by overtakes in unconventional places. It features 2 DRS straights, down the pit straight and between turns 1- 2, providing the best chances for overtaking. The 476m run from pole position to the first corner allows for great track action, with places to be lost or gained after the first launch off the line.
The Hungaroring is naturally a high downforce track where tyre management and decisive strategy are most key for the driver's chances of victory. Unlike past race weekends, setups are pretty fixed around this one-dimensional track bulkier rear wings will be opted for to optimise pace. Strategy is very open around this track with a mixture of conventional and alternative strategies being in the past years by victorious drivers. This means that strategy may ultimately be decided by either weather conditions and track temperatures or the driver’s preference.
Saturday’s Sprint Race will be fought over 122km or 28 laps, with the top ten qualifiers reversed. Sunday sees the F2 drivers complete their Feature Race in front of the Grand Prix crowd. Over 37 laps or 162 Km, the weekend fastest qualifier will receive two points for pole and then Grand Prix style points for the top ten finishers.
Currently, the forecast for Budapest shows rain on Saturday for the Sprint Race, which could cause unexpected pit stops or strategy calls.
Tyre talk and selection
The white-walled hard tyre and the red-walled soft tyre have been chosen for this weekend. This will promote a variety of strategies with a large tyre delta between the two compounds, creating an interesting puzzle throughout the race with thrilling action in the later laps.
Past races and the Championship picture
In 2024, Invicta Racing took home the first-place trophy for the Sprint Race, with their driver Kush Maini being the first to cross the finish line. The next day, the Feature Race was won by Prema’s Kimi Antonelli, achieving his first F2 Feature Race win. The current F2 track record is 1:26.268, set by the newly crowned Formula-E World Champion Oliver Rowland back in 2017.
Going into the tenth round of the season, reigning Formula 3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli leads the championship on 125 points, ahead of veteran Richard Verschoor on 122. Dam’s Jak Crawford and Rodin’s papaya rookie sensation Alex Dunne are separated by just two points on 116 and 114, respectively. After a shaky round in Spa for the championship, the top 5 are separated by just 12 points, with British Luke Browning on 113 points. With the title fight wide open, small mistakes can be very costly.
The Team's Championship is very close, with Campos losing the lead after a forgettable weekend in Belgium. They currently sit on 169 points, 13 points behind Invicta after a dream Belgium weekend where they scored the sprint win with Fornalrolli and inherited the Feature Race win after a mass of penalties and a disqualification. Hitech trails just 6 points behind Campos on 163 points after Luke Browning scored a podium with an incredible rain drive in Spa.
Favourites
Dunne - A driver who has shown great pace as of late, often being the fastest driver on track. Whilst his results have not reflected his performances, he will undoubtedly be back with a vengeance at the Hungaroring to kick back strong before the summer break and reaffirm his position as a possible title favourite.
Fornaroli - A driver whose consistency is really strong and has finally added victories to his repertoire, taking the sprint double in the past two rounds. Can he complete the 3-peat in this weekend's Sprint Race or can he add a hugely important Feature Race win to his tally and further strengthen his title-fighting position?
Verschoor - A driver who once held the lead but is now on the back foot and will be wanting a response to be shown at the Hungaroring. Verschoor has a solid record at this track, where he has previously won, despite being disqualified after the race. Verschoor will want to reestablish his title fight momentum and leave his Spa sorrows firmly behind him as he looks to take the F2 title in possibly his final F2 season
Ones to Watch
Lindblad - A driver who hasn't had the best form recently but did appear on the Spa podium last week before being disqualified. Campos have a solid past record of podiums at the Hungarian track but would love to go a step further this time which isn't out of the question with Lindblad's great talent
Beganovic - A driver who has been very unlucky this season and thus his confidence hasn't been the same recently with not many big finishes of note. Although he showed promising signs in Spa and has a strong past track record here with 2 podiums in F3 so it wouldn't be a surprise to see him break through at the top
Martins - A driver that can never be counted out, but his race pace and bad luck have let him down this season. With the Hungaroring being a tough track to pass and qualifying being key, this could be his moment to shine and keep up his streak of top 5 finishes here in the past. This begs the question - Can he convert a strong qualifying position to victory finally?
Timings (BST/CEST/AEST)
If you want to follow the racing action this weekend, here are the important times you need to be aware of
Practice - 10:05-10:50 / 11:05-11:50 / 19:05-19:50
Qualifying - 14:55-15:25 / 15:55-16:25 / 23:55-00:25
Sprint Race - 13:15-14:00 / 14:15-15:00 / 22:15-23:00
Feature Race - 9:00-10:00 / 10:00-11:00 / 18:00-19:00
This weekend of F2 racing will most definitely be highly intriguing as the drivers will go head to toe with one once again, trying to shift the title battle in before the end of the season. With the variable strategies expected and the unpredictability of F2, this race weekend will wet the appetite and will keep us on the edge of our seats. Will we get a new winner or will the winner be the status quo? We haven’t got long to find out!
Article written by Ellie Swain and Taegan Hignett ©2025
