Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, Hungaroring, 2022

Hungaroring announces redevelopment plan to compete with F1’s new tracks

2023 Formula 1 season

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The Hungaroring has announced an extensive redevelopment plan for facilities at the track which has hosted Formula 1 since 1986.

The venue also confirmed race day tickets for next year’s Hungarian Grand Prix have already sold out. The sale of 100,000 tickets for Sunday’s action over seven months before the event reflects a strong increase in interest. It took until April for race day tickets to sell out this year.

The circuit’s current contract to host F1 races ends in 2027. It has announced a “strategic development programme” which will initially focus on redeveloping utility infrastructure such as water supply and cabling across the site, and also creating new buildings such as a reception hall, a control centre and a ‘customer area’.

The circuit president Zsolt Gyulay said the Hungaroring has “practically been waiting for this moment” since 2010 to undergo such extensive renovations. Previous track updates over the last decade including safety upgrades and a resurfacing in 2016.

Gyulay believes the redevelopment is essential to ensure Hungary’s track remains an attractive venue for F1. “Seeing the processes taking place in F1 and the newly added tracks, this is not enough, this is really the penultimate moment when we can start work,” he said.

“We see that, among the many ‘one-size-fits-all’ tracks, traditional locations similar to the Hungarian one are becoming increasingly valuable, and the proximity of Budapest will always be an amazing attraction for the Hungaroring.”

Several new venues have joined the F1 calendar in recent seasons offering ever-higher standards, Gyulay noted. “We must not ignore that the infrastructure of the new tracks offer a much higher level of service than ours.

“Thanks to the strategic development programme, we will be able to compete with them in the foreseeable future, which will allow us to keep the F1 series here.”

No timescale has been given for the completion of the upgrades, and there will be no changes to the current track layout which was last revised in 2003.

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Ida Wood
Often found in junior single-seater paddocks around Europe doing journalism and television commentary, or dabbling in teaching photography back in the UK. Currently based...

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13 comments on “Hungaroring announces redevelopment plan to compete with F1’s new tracks”

  1. I was looking for information if a layout change was also part of the

    extensive redevelopment plan

    , but then I realize that the current track layout is working very fine for the current F1 cars.

    1. The current Hungaroring layout has never worked fine for F1 cars.
      But it wouldn’t be fair or correct to blame the circuit, as F1 cars are simply fundamentally poor racing cars and have been for a very long time.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        6th December 2022, 15:35

        I think the track is great for modern F1 cars. The home straight isn’t long enough to guarantee and easy DRS pass, it’s possible to fight and defend your position and then lead up to turn 2 also allows for some nice racing where again, it’s possible to defend. Turn 4 (the quick left hander) is always an exciting turn and then yeah… the rest of the track sort of just happens. I’d rather watch a Hungary race than at least half the tracks on next year’s calendar.

        1. How can you say it’s great for modern F1 cars, if it’s the most similar track to Monaco. And you wouldn’t say the same about Monaco, would you?
          The track is garbage, it provides almost no overtaking opportunities, it’s boring, it’s slow and it looks bad. There’s not a single memorable turn on it.

          1. Except that there were apparently 65 overtakes at the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix– which puts it into the top 10 tracks for the season, if not top 5.

            Hungaroring, Spa, Monza and Red Bull Ring were apparently huge benefactors of the new aero rules, as all four saw dramatic increases in overtakes from 2021 to 2022.

          2. Except that there were apparently 65 overtakes at the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix– which puts it into the top 10 tracks for the season, if not top 5.

            In terms of number of overtakes – but not in terms of racing quality.

            How many of those overtakes didn’t happen at turn 1 or 2? Or on the main straight under DRS…?

          3. It’s not a great track, but perhaps it confuses those who can’t tell the difference between great racing and a short-track/jumbled starter’s overtaking stats.

            Brazil is great, but also had the highest stats for similar reasons.

      2. But what about the cabling?
        And a customer area! With water!

  2. Stephen Higgins
    6th December 2022, 13:40

    I kinda wish they’d get rid of the turn 6/7 chicane, and maybe add a little camber to the last corner. Other than that it’s a pretty underrated venue.

  3. Martin Elliott
    6th December 2022, 15:15

    Interesting comments, but this is about infrastructure facilities. Nothing about track layout and safety allegedly still OK since 2016.

    The question is why different permanent/temporary circuit standards for the same racing F1 vehicles?

    Why aren’t FIA F1 Circuit Design Standards publicly published in full by FIA?

  4. How many times has this been announced? New pit complex, new buildings, new grandstands. It’s been the same promises for about 10 years.

  5. I cannot wait to see the new cabling and water supply. Stoked.

  6. Sold out this soon? Must be a new record, but sarcasm aside, Hungaroring committed to hosting F1 until 2037 around last year’s race weekend.

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