Feeder Series Preview: Hungary
- DIVEBOMB Motorsport
- Jul 24
- 4 min read
Written by Trisha Lynnette Nathan and Morgan Holiday
Formula 2 and Formula 3 take on the Hungaroring this weekend as the support series for Formula 1. Find out everything you need to know about the Feeder Series weekend in DIVEBOMB's preview.
Formula 2
Formula 2 heads to Budapest for Round 9 of the 2026 championship, their final round before the summer break. After this weekend it'll be over a month before they go racing again, meaning that all 22 drivers will be looking to end this leg of the season with a strong result.
Invicta Racing has the high ground momentum-wise as everyone heads to the Hungaroring, with their drivers taking both of the wins this past weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. Joshua Dürksen claimed the Sprint Race win while rookie Rafael Câmara won from pole position in the Feature Race.
Still, it's Campos Racing that leads the Teams Championship at this point in the year, with Invicta down in fourth place also behind Rodin Motorsport and MP Motorsport. It's Campos Racing's Nikola Tsolov who leads the Drivers' standings, now 27 points ahead of Gabriele Minì and 36 points ahead of Câmara. Tsolov has only gone one weekend without finishing on the podium, so expect to see him fighting at the front at some point this weekend, if not the whole time. He's currently battling to beat the record set by Charles Leclerc and George Russell of most wins in an FIA F2 season.
Now, the grid heads to the Hungaroring, a picturesque circuit located in Hungary. The 4.381 km (2.722 mi) track has 14 turns and is notorious for being difficult to overtake at. That means that qualifying will be key for the grid, as starting further down the grid can be fatal for a driver's weekend.
Câmara has good recent memories of the Hungaroring, as he won the F3 Feature Race from pole position last season. But F2 is an entirely different playing field, so he'll still have a challenge if he wants to do a repeat in 2026. Another driver to be on the lookout for is Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who won the F3 Sprint Race at the Hungaroring last season and also secured his first F2 podium last weekend at Spa.
Last year's F2 winners at the Hungaroring were Pepe Martí in the Sprint and eventual champion Leonardo Fornaroli took his first Feature Race victory on the Sunday.
The grid will take to the track for the first time at 11:05 local time on Friday for Free Practice, before qualifying at 15:55.
On Saturday they'll have their typical reverse grid Sprint Race at 14:15, and Sunday's Feature Race will take place at 11:25 the following day.
Formula 3
Formula 3 heads to the Hungaroring once again for round seven, in what marks the start of the second half of the 2026 season. In a year that has swung back and forth between Campos Racing's Ugo Ugochukwu and Trident's Freddie Slater, the American now heads into Budapest with the tightest of leads to defend.
It has been a dramatic run into the summer break for the pair. Ugochukwu had built an 18-point advantage over Slater heading into Spa-Francorchamps, only for round six to unravel almost immediately. A qualifying session disrupted by a red flag left both title rivals compromised for the sprint race, before an opening-lap collision between the two ended any hope of points for either driver on the Saturday. Jin Nakamura capitalised to take his and Hitech's maiden win of the season, while Ugochukwu's misery continued into Sunday, as he crossed the line down in 20th and failed to score for a second time across the weekend.
Slater fared rather better in the Feature Race, recovering from a slow start to finish third behind Campos Racing's Ernesto Rivera, who charged through from fourth on the grid to claim his maiden Feature Race victory, and Van Amersfoort Racing's Hiyu Yamakoshi in second. It means Slater now trails Ugochukwu by just a single point heading to Hungary, having halved what was once a much healthier cushion.
Behind the leading pair, Ugochukwu's team-mate Théophile Naël remains third in the standings, with Trident's Noah Strømsted fourth. Rivera's Spa victory lifted the Mexican rookie seven positions into fifth, while Yamakoshi and ART Grand Prix's Maciej Gładysz continue to push from further back, both level on points after strong recent form.
The Hungaroring's medium and high-speed corners will make for a demanding workout for F3's field of 30 drivers. Described as a technical circuit, with just one meaningful straight and a tight, twisting layout that makes overtaking difficult, the emphasis this weekend will fall on track position and looking after the tyres until the flag.
That makes qualifying all the more crucial. Aside from the two title protagonists, several other drivers could be in the mix for pole, with Yamakoshi, Gładysz and Nakamura all arriving in good recent form, while Rivera will look to build on his breakthrough weekend in Belgium.
The championship picture
Ugo Ugochukwu heads to Budapest with the narrowest of advantages over Freddie Slater in the drivers' championship, leading by just a single point after the drama of Spa. Naël sits third, with Strømsted fourth, as the pair look to keep themselves in touch with the two front-runners heading into the second half of the season.
In the teams' championship, Campos Racing continues to lead the way, having extended its advantage over Trident to 56 points following the Belgian round. Van Amersfoort Racing remains third, with ART Grand Prix having moved up into fourth place ahead of Rodin Motorsport after a strong recent haul of points.
With three rounds still to come after Hungary, both championship battles remain firmly in the balance, and a difficult weekend for either title contender could hand the initiative to the other heading into the final stretch of the season.
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