How the Hungarian GP weather could be Mercedes W15’s biggest rival

The start/finish straight at the Hungaroring, home of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Formula 1 is in for a scorcher at the Hungaroring, which could blight Mercedes’ chances of keeping their race-winning streak alive.

The day’s high is forecast to be in the early 30s for all three days of running, which means the track temperature is likely to knock on 50’s door.

It’s going to be a scorcher at the Hungaroring

That could scupper Mercedes’ chances as the W15’s long-run performance in hot weather hasn’t been the car’s strong suit.

Although Mercedes claimed their first of two race wins at a hot Red Bull Ring last month, George Russell was a distant third behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris when he inherited the lead after they punctured.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton made it two-from-two a week later when he clinched the victory at the British Grand Prix, doing so on pure speed but in changeable conditions at the Silverstone circuit.

There were, however, encouraging signs for Mercedes at their home race when Russell pulled away in the dry in the first stint. But while it was dry, it was by no means hot.

All you need to know about F1’s next stop: Hungary

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F1 start time: What time does the Hungarian Grand Prix start? How to watch and live stream

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin admits this weekend’s race will be a “test” of the team’s progress.

Shovlin told the F1 Nation podcast: “We certainly don’t think we won the last one, let’s go and win the next one. It almost makes you a bit more nervous that maintaining that performance we had in Silverstone is going to be very difficult.

“If you look at what is the big difference for Hungary is probably this is the test of whether or not we have got on top of our long-run performance in hot conditions.

“In Barcelona and in Austria, we couldn’t match Lando or Max on the long runs. Both those two cars were well ahead of us.

“Now we hopefully will have made a bit of progress. If you look at the size of the gap at those two previous races, I’d be surprised if we can pull it in that significantly.

“But then again, we surprised ourselves with the first stint in Silverstone. We didn’t think in that dry bit of the race will be able to break away. We thought it would be like Barcelona where George got into the lead and then he’s got the two of them in his gearbox.

“But that track [Hungary] throws up different demands, we can simulate some of those problems, we know the type of issues that it will throw our way and we’ll just put up effort into the preparation side and making sure that we can start with the best set-up that we can and how do we develop it from there.”

Full weather forecast for the Hungarian GP

Friday:
Temperature: High 31, low 23
Wind: North 3mph

Saturday:
Temperature: High 30, low 22
Wind: North 3mph

Sunday:
Temperature: High 31, low 23
Wind: SSW 4mph

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