More pre-race drama for McLaren ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri out on track at the 2023 Hungarian GP

McLaren cannot catch a break, not on the track but off it, with their poor motorhome damaged for the second time this season when the roof blew off in Hungary.

Back in their own space after a fire on the Saturday morning of the Spanish Grand Prix forced McLaren to evacuate staff and guests, the team’s motorhome was repaired and back in action at the British Grand Prix.

McLaren’s Team Hub took another blow

Alas, its moment in the paddock was short-lived as Team Hub, as their hospitality building in the paddock is dubbed, was again hit with damage in the build-up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, this time courtesy of Mother Nature.

After a few days of extremely hot conditions, a storm broke over the Hungaroring on Wednesday bringing with it thunder, lightning, hail and heavy rain. It flooded the Hungaroring paddock.

The biggest loser in all of this was the roof of McLaren’s Team Hub.

PADDOCK STORM DAMAGE#mclarenF1 can’t take a trick. Having just got their fire-damaged motorhome repaired in time for the Silverstone race, yesterday the roof was ripped off by storm winds. It was ripped off on Monday night as well.

And a large video screen at the entrance to… pic.twitter.com/WO1P7LG9Zu

— Kym Illman (@KymIllman) July 18, 2024

But while Team Hub lost its roof, there was also other damage reported – most notably to a big screen that was set up to show the action to the fans.

Personnel up and down the pit lane were literally using their bodies to try to keep infrastructure safe from the wrath of the wind and rain.

wtf is going on in hungary?? #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/NKnY3U5XyM

— lammm (@ZhouuNotJoe) July 17, 2024

The good news is that Wednesday’s display marked the beginning and the end of Mother Nature’s influence with a hot and dry forecast for the Grand Prix weekend.

The day’s high for all three days of the Grand Prix weekend will be in the low 30s, which means the track temperature will knock on 50s door, but no thunderstorms have been forecast to break the heat.

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