How to watch 2023 Hungarian GP: F1 live stream, TV schedule and start time

But with intermittent rain forecast across the weekend, the Hungarian Grand Prix could once again provide a race to remember — especially when combined with the long-awaited return of Daniel Ricciardo and a new qualifying format!

After leaving McLaren at the end of the 2022 season, the Aussie was signed to be Red Bull’s third driver for 2023 while searching for a way to return to the grid in a full-time seat. A tyre test with Pirelli acted as an audition, and after his lap times proved to be “highly competitive” (in the words of Christian Horner), the decision was made for Ricciardo to replace the struggling Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri with immediate effect.

Of course, Ricciardo is not expected to fight at the front, but will instead join the likes of Haas, Alfa Romeo and Williams in the midfield battle while Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and a resurgent McLaren aim to reel in Red Bull at the front.

All the ingredients are there for a great Hungarian Grand Prix, and here is how to watch it.

 

How to watch F1: live stream and TV details for 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix 

The Hungarian Grand Prix is widely regarded as a fierce challenge for F1 teams – mainly due to the unforgiving and unpredictable nature of the Hungaroring and the Hungarian climate. As a result, each and every session is usually action packed, as teams aim to make use of the three critical practice sessions before heading into the all-important qualifying session on Saturday afternoon and Sunday’s grand prix.

Live TV: All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 starting with Free Practice 1 on Friday at 12.00pm.

Live stream: For viewers in the UK, Sky Sports F1 subscribers can watch all the running live on the Sky Go app. Now TV subscribers can also access live coverage of every session via Sky Sports F1 with live timings are available through the F1 app.

Highlights: Channel 4 will also showcase highlights of the weekend’s action on both Saturday and Sunday evening.

 

F1 live stream and TV schedule 

All times in BST

	Qualifying Saturday 8 July	Hungarian Grand Prix Sunday 9 July
Session start time	3pm	2pm
Live coverage Sky Sports, Sky Go, NowTV	2.15pm	12.30pm
Highlights Channel 4	6.45pm	6.30pm

Hungarian GP circuit details and weather forecast

Since its debut on the calendar in 1986, the Hungarian Grand Prix hasn’t always produced the most scintillating F1 race weekends — mainly due to the tight layout. But when combined with Hungary’s unpredictable weather climate, it can suddenly produce some of the best wheel-to-wheel action of the season. Primary overtaking zones are usually found in the first sector – utilising the only DRS detection zone to dive down the inside of Turn 1 or Turn 2.

Despite boasting 18 corners in total, overtaking can be an almost impossible feat and can force teams to become inventive with strategy calls – leading to moments of brilliance and bizarreness. In 2023, intermittent showers throughout qualifying and a cloudy race day could produce similar results.

 

Late drama during last year’s F3 sprint race saw Jak Crawford and Arthur Leclerc collide while battling over fourth – both cars finishing out of the points. Similarly, three cars made contact in Turn 1 of the F2 sprint but all eyes were gradually drawn out front as Liam Lawson, Marcus Armstrong and Jehan Daruvala battled for the final points places – Jack Doohan streaking away out front.

In the feature races, Aleksandr Smolyar led from lights out in F3 while Théo Pourchaire utilised better tyre strategy and pace to win the F2 event from fourth on the grid.

Gabriel Bortoleto currently leads the F3 championship in 2023, but the standings in F2 remain close with Frederik Vesti, Pourchaire and Ayumu Iwasa all well within range of an F2 title.

 

Who will win the 2023 Hungarian GP?

After capturing a tenth consecutive win at the British GP – 11 if you include 2022’s Abu Dhabi finale – Red Bull is undoubtably in imperious form in 2023. While the trailing field have begun to close the gap, Max Verstappen has continued to stretch his advantage at the the top of the drivers’ standings and will once again be the favourite to capture victory in Hungary – putting Red Bull’s latest upgrade package to good use.

A rumoured sidepod redesign could extract another two-tenths out of the RB19’s lap time, and with the car already at the top of the time sheets, an eighth pole position of the season for Verstappenmay be a formality. Then on race day, helped by the narrow yet fast nature of the Hungaroring, Verstappen might expect to be able to stick rigidly to the racing line, complete two flawless pitstops and steamroll his way to victory.

But if an unlucky rain shower during qualifying or a rare problem should occur in the race, a season-debut victory for Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin or even McLaren could suddenly be on the cards.

After its performance at Silverstone, all eyes will naturally be on the latter – Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualifying 2-3 before finishing the race second and fourth respectively. But with the characteristics of the MCL60 suiting fast and flowing corners – much like the ones found at the British GP – McLaren’s performance could suddenly return Norris and Piastri to the midfield in Hungary, which reduces the speed of the cars drastically.

That then leaves Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston – all have whom have swapped places in the F1 power rankings over the course of the season – and perhaps a flailing Sergio Perez to fight for the win and end Verstappen’s latest streak of dominance.

 

2023 Hungarian GP full session times

All times in BST 

	Friday July 7	Saturday July 8	Sunday July 9
F1	Free Practice 1 – 12.30pm Free Practice 2 – 4pm	Free Practice 3 – 11.30am Qualifying – 3pm	Hungarian Grand Prix – 2pm
F2	Practice – 10am Qualifying – 2.45pm	Sprint – 1.10pm	Feature race – 9am
F3	Practice – 8.55am Qualifying – 2pm	Sprint race – 8.45am	Feature race – 7.20am
Porsche Super Cup	Practice – 5.30pm	Qualifying – 10.20am	Race – 11am