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Formula 1 heads to the Hungaroring for round 13 of the 2026 season — the final race before the sport's traditional summer break. The weekend runs from Friday, July 24 to Sunday, July 26, at the tight, twisty 4.381 km circuit near Budapest, often nicknamed "Monaco without the barriers." Kimi Antonelli arrives with a strong championship lead after winning at Spa-Francorchamps.
Hungary runs on Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), which is 3 hours 30 minutes behind IST (UTC+5:30). Practice 1 takes place on Friday, July 24 at 13:30 local time, which is 17:00 IST, followed by Practice 2 the same day at 17:00 local, or 20:30 IST. On Saturday, July 25, Practice 3 runs at 12:30 local time (16:00 IST), before Qualifying gets underway at 16:00 local, or 19:30 IST. The race itself takes place on Sunday, July 26 at 15:00 local time, which translates to 18:30 IST.
FP1 and FP2 (Friday, 5:00 PM & 8:30 PM IST) give teams their first look at car behaviour and long-run pace at this high-downforce circuit. FP3 (Saturday, 4:00 PM IST) is a shorter session for final setup work.
Qualifying (Saturday, 7:30 PM IST) runs in three knockout stages — Q1, Q2 and Q3 — over a combined 60 minutes, setting Sunday's grid. Since overtaking is notoriously difficult here, qualifying position often decides much of the race.
The Race (Sunday, 6:30 PM IST) starts at 3:00 PM local time and runs to a maximum of 70 laps (306.63 km) or 120 minutes, whichever comes first — the last race before F1's month-long summer shutdown.
FanCode — holds exclusive Indian streaming rights for F1 through 2028, with all practice, qualifying and race sessions available, including commentary in English, Hindi and Tamil.
F1 TV Pro — F1's official service, offering live sessions, onboard cameras and team radio via subscription, also available in India.
The Hungaroring has hosted F1 since 1986, when it became the first race held behind the Iron Curtain. Its twisty layout and single long straight make overtaking hard, putting a premium on strategy - most famously in 2019, when Mercedes' bold two-stop call helped Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen to the win. With the title fight live and a summer break looming, expect a hard-fought weekend at Budapest.