Hungarian GP predictions: Oscar Piastri first win, Daniel Ricciardo shines, Aston Martin double points

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen goes by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

After a thrilling qualifying session, an even more exciting race is expected at the Hungarian GP. With a wave of high temperatures threatening the Hungaroring circuit this Sunday, the start and tyre management will be key in determining the final positions in Budapest.

We have predicted the top 10 positions for the Hungarian GP. And we encourage you, our readers, to make your own predictions for Sunday’s race as well.

Oscar Piastri first F1 win headlines Hungarian GP predictions

10. Nico Hülkenberg

The Haas driver will start 11th with the Racing Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in front of him. The Japanese driver suffered an accident in Q3 and his car was severely damaged.

The in-form Hülkenberg has a good chance to score points again this time at the Hungaroring. He will be able to take advantage of the fact that Tsunoda will not have the car perfectly adjusted to his comfort level to be able to attack.

9. Lance Stroll

The Canadian is in a good moment of his career. Not so Aston Martin, although they surprised in qualifying in Hungary with both cars getting into Q3.

Despite this, the pace of his closest rivals this weekend, Racing Bulls, should be superior and finishing inside the points is already a great achievement.

8. Daniel Ricciardo

Racing Bulls have been strong this weekend. Difficult track conditions have hurt them in qualifying, but in theory their performance should be above Aston Martin in the high temperatures.

Therefore, we think Ricciardo can at least get to P8 and score good points after three difficult races for the Faenza-based team.

7. Fernando Alonso

The Spaniard is always a giant in Hungary. One only has to remember his great defence against Lewis Hamilton to hand victory to Esteban Ocon in 2021.

The AMR24 pace may not be the best, but after a positive qualifying, Fernando has a great opportunity on a difficult overtaking circuit to ‘defend like a lion’ and give the team a confidence boost.

6. Charles Leclerc

The Monegasque driver hasn’t shown up since his victory in Monaco. This weekend in Hungary he is not comfortable with the car either, as shown by his accident in FP2 and the fact that he was once again outqualified by Carlos Sainz.

If the degradation is too high in the race, he has a chance to at least overtake Lewis Hamilton. With a Ferrari that excels in high temperatures, P5 is the best he can hope for.

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5. Lewis Hamilton

The Briton hasn’t really stood out all weekend and Mercedes’ pace over Ferrari doesn’t look superior. Despite being a specialist at this circuit, the performance of the W15 is not as good as it has been in the last four races.

Hungary seems to be a place to minimise damage rather than to try to pull off a surprise. P5 is a realistic and positive position for Lewis on Sunday.

4. Carlos Sainz

The Spaniard has been very solid all weekend. Still, Ferrari doesn’t have the pace to fight for the top 3 against Red Bull and McLaren.

Only a race with very high degradation where Ferrari is far superior to the rest in this respect or a mistake of the top drivers can give him a chance for the podium. If not, P4 is the maximum to which he aspires.

3. Lando Norris

The British driver is struggling to manage the high pressure moments and, especially, is failing at the starts. The poleman in Hungary starts on the racing outside line ahead of Turn 1 and if Piastri starts slightly better than Norris, he will be able to attack him on the inside.

In this race situation, McLaren should give the Australian the best strategy and this would leave him in a vulnerable position against Max Verstappen too.

Therefore, his race will depend largely on what happens at the start and his tyre management. So far this season he has not given much reason to believe that he will have an advantage over his team-mate at the start.

2. Max Verstappen

Red Bull’s long runs on Friday were very promising and he will be able to put at least one of the two McLaren drivers in check with the undercut.

Indeed, Verstappen can be expected to finish either P1 or P3. But considering the good pace of the RB20 and the strategic advantage he will also have in terms of tyres, P2 is a very realistic position.

1. Oscar Piastri

After having his race completely affected at Silverstone by McLaren’s pitwall, with a good start and an attack on his teammate at Turn 1, Piastri has a great chance to redeem himself and take his first Formula 1 win at Hungary.

The Australian was just 22 thousandths of a second off Lando Norris’ pole position, who had the help of Max Verstappen’s slipstream. Without it, Piastri would surely have been P1. With this in mind, let nobody doubt that Oscar will try to attack Lando to take the race lead as soon as possible.

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