The warmest grand prix weekend so far this year will also see occasional showers which could affect the action on-track.
With the season starting earlier in the year than the disrupted 2020 championship, most tracks so far have seen warmer conditions than last year’s events. This is expected to continue in Hungary, where a warmer weekend is forecast.The 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix started on a damp track. Red Bull had to frantically repairing Max Verstappen’s car on the grid, after he skated into a barrier during a reconnaissance lap.
Last year, with cloudy and rainy conditions the hottest session was the race, at 22C, which translated to a much cooler track temperature of only just over 18C at the start. Given clouds are predicted again, despite temperatures over 30C the track could well remain in the mid-to-low 20s.
Friday is predicted to see the hottest running this weekend, with temperatures up to a high of 34C. That should make second practice the warmest session of the weekend by some distance, although probably not too unrepresentative for qualifying or the race because despite a raised air temperature, conditions will be cloudy in the afternoon.
No rain is expected overnight before practice begins, so the track won’t be wet at the start of Friday’s running. However the risk of rain will rise to 60% on Saturday: A wet start to the day is expected, and though it should dry out for final practice, showers are expected in time for qualifying, and could be thundery.
The threat of rain on Sunday is receding, however, down to just 40% having been higher earlier in the week.
But the expected overnight rain on Friday will give the effect of ‘resetting’ track conditions, removing the rubber laid by F1 and its support series. We could see a decidedly greasy start to final practice, especially as ambient and track conditions are set to fall.
Although the air will still be warmer than last year’s grand prix, the relative drop in track temperature caused by cloud cover – as we saw at Paul Ricard earlier this season – could also fox some teams with tyre warm-up.
Wind speeds over the weekend will not be especially high, the gustiest session set to be qualifying at a possible 10-20 kilometres per hour, unlikely to trouble cars much around the relatively sheltered Hungaroring.
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For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on RaceFans Live and the RaceFans Twitter account.
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Jere (@jerejj)
29th July 2021, 12:54
Not necessarily warmer than last season because of commencing earlier. Montmelo was cooler than last year, Algarve roughly the same as was Imola or thereabouts.
Relevantly for the Hungarian GP, a warm weekend, yes.
DeanR (@deanr)
29th July 2021, 16:35
Hungary is usually the hottest race of the year, isnt it? Temps in Hungary at this time of year are very high.
Having been in 2013 (Extremely hot), 2015 & 2018 I can safely say these are the hottest GPs I’ve ever attended.
As a spectator it is quite a trial. The track is in a depression/bowl and provides zero shade. Love Hungary and the hungarian GP weekend though (kind of compulsory when you have a Hungarian wife)
Dave
29th July 2021, 22:18
I love mockeries and jokes about the button on the right side, commonly known as the wrong side or wrong button.
IfImnotverymuchmistaken
29th July 2021, 13:37
Is it just my foggy memory, or have we really been without a proper wet race for years?
I mean a race where it’s raining for the full length of the race, and without red flags because the track is “too wet” (in my opinion, there is no such thing as a too wet racing track, just tires that aren’t good enough to race on).
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
29th July 2021, 21:02
I guess the last fully wet race was Interlagos 2016. I can’t think of any other race since than that’s been completely wet from start to finish.
I disagree, there are conditions that can be considered too wet. If you can’t see anything in front of you, because of the heavy spray from the car ahead, then that’s too dangerous and impossible to race.
It’s no coincidence that there hasn’t been a proper wet race since the last major regs changes in 2017. These wider cars just produce an ridiculous amount of spray, which causes visibility problems already at light rain.
David B
29th July 2021, 19:38
Bernie was right. Some tracks need sprinklers at the tracks. Wet races provide the most intense, challenging & often most enjoyable races & they’ve been so rare the last few years.