A Hungarian's guide to the Hungarian GP

Disclaimer

This piece summarises my experiences visiting the Hungarian GP on Friday, as well as some of my advice for those who plan to visit it in the future. If you are interested in attending the Hungarian GP in person, then you might find useful information here. However, take everything I say with a grain of salt, as this was my first experience at the track, and I was only there on Friday - this is especially important in case of some of my negative experiences, as those might have been temporary setbacks that the organizers managed to fix during the weekend.

The most well-researched part, therefore the one with the most solid advice, is the first, Preparations section, which provides information about tickets and views from grandstands, as well as rules and what you can take to the track - with some subjective advice. The following section, Getting to the Track, details my own choices and experiences. Finally, the Programs and Experiences section is the most subjective one - it is simply a report of what I’ve seen and what happened to me at the GP. You can skip any section if you think it’s not for you. I promise I won’t get mad.

Preparations

Tickets

If you want to attend the Hungarian GP live, the first thing you need to do is buy a ticket, and you’ll have to be quick because weekend and Sunday tickets go fast (at least on the Hungarian website). On the other hand, Friday and Saturday tickets go up later on the website (when almost all of the Sunday and Weekend tickets are sold), and you can buy them even on the day at the entrance. For Hungarians, the official ticket shop is gpticketshop.hu, but other countries might have other possibilities.

Grandstands

There’s a map on the ticketshop’s website. However, be careful because it does not show important characteristics like elevations, forests, and buildings that block the view. Here’s what you need to know about the grandstands.

Until 2024, grandstand names like Bronze, Silver, Gold, and SuperGold described their quality, but from 2025, grandstands have names corresponding to their location, like Apex, Chicane, etc. Don’t worry. I’m using the new names in this report.

The main grandstand is called Hungaroring, which makes it incredibly hard to find information about it. Although, I can easily explain the Hungaroring section itself: you can see the start-finish straight and the garages but not much else because of the pit building. It can be fun for race day because things are happening there, but if you want to see the track, that’s not the best choice. On the other hand, this is the only place with a roof which is not negligible in the heat.

From 2024 on, the map shows a new section: Hungaroring Platinum. To me, it appears to be on the floor above the Hungaroring seats. However, I found an official-looking description, with a map that shows it behind the Hungaroring grandstand, which contains a lot of conflicting information. I suppose we will all find out the truth next year - once the grandstand is actually built.

As you get further back on the main straight towards the last turn, you'll see more of the track but less of the garages. There are grandstands at the Pit Exit and T1 (yes, that is actually the name) and some grandstands away from the main straight. Fan is on the T11-T12 straight, close to the general admission/fan zone area, and the Chicane grandstands are at T6, on the opposite side of the track. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the view there.

To help you choose, I included a list with the old names of the grandstands, and I advise you to go to YouTube and search for the old name of the desired seat to check out the view from there. (Note: based on the maps, it is hard to find a perfect pairing, so I might be wrong with some of these.)

New name	Old name
Apex 1	Silver 3, Silver 6
Chicane 1	Bronze 1
Chicane 2	Bronze 2
Fan	Silver 5
Grand Prix 1	Red Bull
Grand Prix 2	Silver 4
Grid 1	Gold 1, Gold 2
Grid 2	Silver 1
Hungaroring	Super Gold
Pit Exit	Pit Exit, Gold 3
T1	Gold 4

Personally, my brother and I chose what is now called Grid 2, which allows you to see Sector 3, the main straight and even the T10-T11 straight, although for a better view, you should choose Grand Prix 2, which is higher due to the elevation of the ground. We chose this as a nice compromise between being close to the cars, seeing a large portion of the track, and maybe seeing some of the garages (yeah, that last part didn't happen...), and we did actually get compliments on our choice.

There are also General Admission tickets, where you don’t get a seat in any grandstand, but you can come in the gates and find a nice patch of grass to watch the race. Personally, I would not recommend it, because not only will you have to fight for seats with other General Admission ticket holders but also people from, e.g. Hungaroring, who decide they want to see some of the track for a session. Not to mention what happens if it rains and you have to sit in the mud (you are not allowed to bring your own chairs to the track)

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Prices

For 2024, every Friday ticket (regardless of seats) was 75 euros, while Saturday tickets cost around 140/150 euros. For the 2025 GP, the prices will probably rise ~15%, but I don’t know their exact value yet.

On the other hand, Sunday and Weekend tickets are not only already for sale, but some of the grandstands are already sold out. There is a bigger variation for these tickets, with a Sunday ticket ranging from 190 euros (these are new prices) at the Chicane to 630 euros at the Hungaroring Platinum grandstand. (General Admission tickets cost 135 euros.)  However, I do not recommend a Sunday ticket, given that for about 10% more money, you can buy a weekend ticket for that same grandstand. Then again, if you plan on going all weekend, I suggest the 3 corners ticket, where you get three different grandstands on 3 different days. These come in two different flavours and cost 420/470 euros. I really like the idea because you get to visit different parts of the track and because different seats may be better for different days. Hungaroring grandstand is the best for Sunday because of the race start and the celebrations, but you barely see anything on a Friday.

There are also parking tickets (there is some limited free parking and a lot of temporary car parks around the track, but these are for a special car park close to the main gate) and super cheap junior tickets for the weekend. Still, my advice to you is to travel in a way where you don't have to worry about parking (public transport, taxi, or have someone drop you off), and my request is to please not bring small children to a place with no shade in this weather. Not to mention the noise damaging their ears. I only saw a couple of toddlers, but they all looked miserable.

Thursday tickets

The great thing about Hungaroring is that once you spend a lot of money, new opportunities open up, and you can spend even more. If you hold any ticket for the weekend (including one-day tickets), you can buy a ticket to do a track walk for ~10,000 HUF. For this program, you get there at a given time, and a guide walks you around the track. 

If you have a Weekend ticket, you get the opportunity of a PitLane Walk for ~15,000 HUF, where you can walk along the pitlane and glance into the garages. You might notice that the prices are in Hungarian Forints because these tickets are not sold on the same website. I don’t know when they start selling them, but I do know they sell out very quickly, so good luck if you’re interested!

What to pack

Once you get your ticket to the Hungaroring, you can start planning your journey to Hungary. Sadly, I can not help you with that. However, I can help you with the preparations once you’re here. Here’s a list of what you may and should pack if you’re going to the track.

Weather

The most important part of the packing is to prepare for the heat. The hottest days in this country are in late July, which is exactly when the Hungarian GP takes place. Aside from the Hungaroring and Hungaroring Platinum grandstands, there is very little shade around the track. On a sunny day, you’ll have to be prepared to be in the sun all day. Make sure to pack sunscreen and anything else to protect you from the sun: caps, sunglasses, maybe even an additional piece of clothing, in case you need to sit on something (chair gets hot), put something over your knees (sun gets hot), or water your skin (body gets hot).  Free cold water and some weak spray machines are available at the track, but this country is generally bad at protecting against the heat. It’s all on you.

On the other hand, if you happen to go to the track on a rainy day, remember to take a raincoat. Umbrellas are allowed, but you cannot use them in the grandstands.  To remind you, only the Hungaroring grandstands have a roof, and there aren't many things around the track you can hide under.

Food & Drink

There are plenty of buffets and food stands around the track, but if you don’t want to spend too much money or have a special diet, you can bring food to the track.

Here's my favourite rule of the Hungaroring: you can bring up to three sandwiches - or an equivalent amount of food - to the track. As someone relatively interested in metrology (the science of measuring stuff, NOT meteorology - weather stuff), I refuse to accept "sandwich" as a unit of measure. How big of a sandwich are we talking about? An equivalent amount of what? Calories? Weight? Although, I don't want to give the organisers too much merde (excuse my French) because they didn't seem to care much about the food we brought into the track. Personally, since I'm not a fan of soggy sandwiches, I opted for some energy bars and snacks, but I didn't even eat them all, as the heat really takes your appetite away. Also, while the food around the track is relatively expensive (about twice as much as you'd normally pay in this country), it's not completely outrageous - you can definitely put up with it for a couple of days. However, if you have a special dietary restriction, I’d advise you to take precautions - see our experiences below.

As for drinks, the rules are surprisingly clear: you are allowed to pack a half litre of water, but you are encouraged to bring a bottle, and you can get free cold water at the track.

Fan stuff

You don’t need me to remind you (but when did that stop me?) to wear your F1 merch to the track. Alternatively, you can buy merch at the track. The rules even allow you to bring a flag (they specify the type of flagpole), but they’ll take it away from you if you’re being an asshole with it (not their wording, but that’s the gist).

For maximum enjoyment, I also advise you to take a pair of earplugs with you, especially if you sit close to the track. The car noises are fun the first couple of times around, but they can get annoying. Earplugs don’t block all sounds - you’ll still hear the cars, the commentary and even the person next to you - but dial the noise down. In my personal experience, when I put them in, I instantly got way calmer than I expected to be in a crowd in heatstroke-inducing weather.

Getting to the track

Transportation

If you stay in Budapest, there are countless possibilities to get to the track, including public transport, tourist buses, taxis, etc. However, most of the 70,000 spectators come to the track from our capital, which takes a very long time. - I think I might clarify here that while people refer to Budapest as the place of the track, it is actually in a nearby city called Mogyoród. I mention this because the city's name translates to "your nuts" in every sense of the word, and I think that's funny…

Back to the point, if you want to get to Mogyoród from Budapest, you'll spend a lot of time in traffic on the M3 motorway. In fact, traffic is so bad that I've heard they designate a lane for people who work at the track (and therefore, it is critical that they get there on time). 

We don’t live in Budapest, but if we were to use the main entrance, we would have met the same crowd at the motorway exit and been stuck in traffic, too. Instead, we opted to get to the track from Kerepes - a town to the southeast of Hungaroring. It takes 20 minutes to reach the track on foot from the closest spot in the town. However, we couldn't get to that spot (and had to settle for the second closest one) because a garbage truck came in the opposite direction - on a one-way street. And if that isn't a perfect description of the traffic situation in this country, I don't know what is.

Nonetheless, it was a lovely walk through a car park (that was still empty then) and the Dutch camp (which had a really nice atmosphere, and we instantly decided that one day we'd go to a race in Austria and get the trackside camping experience). We followed a group of fans to what looked like a closed gate (and a place where you could watch the race for free) and walked along the fence (and a bunch of merch stores) to Gate 6, where we could finally get in. I can definitely recommend this experience instead of the crowded motorway.

Security

I was a bit nervous going through the gate, expecting airport-level bullying and preparing for a heated philosophical debate about what counts as three sandwiches worth of food. Luckily, they were super nice: the woman took one look at the contents of my bag before letting me through. It seemed a bit like she was looking for one specific thing - if I had to guess based on the confiscated items, it's beer. Maybe she saw my transparent water flask and decided I'm a sensible human being who does not consume diuretic fluids during a heatwave. Either way, I was glad to see how smooth it went.

As for the security inside the track, there were people standing at the entrances of the grandstands, but they didn't really ask for tickets there. Obviously, I'm a good and anxious person, so I didn't try my luck, but boy, was I tempted to sneak into the shady section!

Programs and experiences

Free practice live

It is widely known that Formula 1 is one of the sports that is better to follow on TV than live. (Actually, it is one of the reasons we decided to go on a Friday: not to miss anything important.) To be more specific, you see very little of the on-track action, you don’t get the regular commentary - instead, you get trackside commentary alternating between three different languages - and while there are screens with the TV footage, it is hard to see them in bright sunlight. I sincerely admire those people I heard clap whenever someone crossed the line with a new best time because I had no idea whether a car was starting or finishing a timed lap, let alone their laptime.

On the other hand, watching from the track has the benefit of better sounds, and you can feel close to the people you see all year in the telly. My husband once told me the cars also had a distinctive smell - I don’t know if it is because the cars are different now or if you can only smell that at the race start, but I didn’t smell anything.

F1 movie filming

If you’ve been living under a rock (not judging; it actually sounds cool), a Hollywood movie about Formula 1 is being made with big names such as Brad Pitt and Jerry Bruckheimer and F1 - the latter being the highly imaginative title of the movie which will absolutely not cause any misunderstandings, whatsoever. (“I watched F1 last weekend!”) We don’t know much about the plot yet, but we do know the circumstances of filming: they shoot race-related scenes at the real F1 race weekends. For the past two seasons, the film crew has been following the teams around the world, shooting scenes for the movie before, during and after on-track sessions.

We knew filming would continue in Hungary, but we didn't know if we could catch it. We were lucky, as after the F2 practice finished, it was announced that they would be shooting on the track right then and there, so we stayed and watched. I can not tell you much about the on-track action: the cars run a few laps around the track, often very close to each other - which suggests it was a battle scene. Interestingly, there were no additional cameras on/around the track, so they were probably using F1’s (by which I mean the sport - see what I’m talking about?) footage and whatever additional cameras they mounted on the cars. It was over in about 15-20 minutes.

Additionally, opposite our grandstand, on the other side of the pitlane, there was a white tent with four cars in the fake F1 team’s colours. Before filming began, two of them were wheeled to the track (or maybe to the fake garage first) and returned afterwards. As for the other two, I assume they were spares - which is not something real F1 teams are allowed to have, but I suppose it’s necessary for a film crew.

Off-track

The moment I stepped through the gate, I instantly started getting festival vibes. The crowd looked like festival crowds (with maybe more clothes on), the food was festival food, and when there were no interviews, a DJ occupied the stage. It probably shouldn’t have surprised me, but I guess subconsciously, I expected to see the constant rush they show in the paddock.

Fan zone

The fan zone offered so many programs there was no way for me to check out all of them without missing an on-track session. Here are the activities I did come across.

• Sim racing was quite popular - not so much among racers but the spectators. While I only saw a few people racing, there was a small crowd in front of the big screen showing the footage.

• A lot of activities involved taking photos: podium photo, picture with a replica of the championship trophy, the so-called Blast zone where they made it look like you’re going full-speed; taking your picture and adding our favourite driver next to you; prom picture-like photo with a frame saying F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, etc. 

• Mercedes had a pretty cool stand where they put a show car out, and you could design a livery of some sort. I assume you could then check it with AR on the show car, but I might be wrong.

• Blaze Pod reflex testing, which I definitely would have tried had I not been exhausted because of the weather.

• Stands with cars were underwhelming - mostly because you couldn't tell what they were based on the information given. I know for a fact that BME motorsports is the Formula Student team of my university (BME), but that's only because I used to study and now work at BME. Their posters only told me how the car was built, not what it is. 

• At another stand, DRX Sport had a very nice roll-up full of buzzwords like "prevention", "safety", and "measurable improvement", but I had to google what they do. It turned out to be a company providing sports and racecar driving experiences.

• The most unexpected Fan zone activity was bungee jumping. I have no idea why they thought people would go to a racetrack for bungee jumping, but I can tell you I haven’t seen anyone try it.

  
  

Food & Drink services

My brother is in a difficult situation where he both a) has a special diet and b) is in his early 20s, therefore hungry all the time. Originally, we didn't think there would be much of a problem as there was supposed to be a Free From food corner (a brand specialising in catering to specific diets). However, we couldn’t find it. After an exhaustive search of its perceived location, we went to an information point and asked about it - only to be met with nervous laughter. They weren't laughing at us, of course. They laughed because we weren't the first ones to ask, and no one knew the answer. I hope that this was just some temporary setback, and for the remainder of the weekend, people with diets could get something to eat. 

On a positive note, there is an abundance of food stands and buffets around the track, and we did find a couple of places that served at least some food for special diets - most notably, an ice cream truck. My brother reports that when he first asked which ice cream was vegan, they had no idea what he was talking about, and he had to point out that they had a sign saying they serve such a thing. In the end, they begrudgingly checked, and my brother did manage to get himself some ice cream. I'm telling this story because if you're someone on a special diet planning to visit Hungary, you'll probably also experience something like this. If you have an allergy, I'd advise you to ask about the food preparation process just to make sure.

As for drinks, I am happy to report that there were, in fact, places with taps of cold water where you could fill your bottle or get a piece of clothing (most often a T-shirt or a cap) wet, although their access is a bit problematic: for one thing, there is always a crowd and absolutely no queuing. To avoid that, you can get your water during an active session on track when off-track services are less crowded. The other problem is that a muddy puddle reaches tens of meters away from the spot, so you'll need to wear shoes with thick soles. It’s a bit of a mess. (Or you can get overpriced cold drinks from buffets.)

Meet the drivers/team principals

The most notable off-track program was at the stage, where sometimes drivers and even team principals got interviewed. While I love that there is this opportunity for the fans, I have to say that the communication around this program could be better. First of all, the name is inconsistent: the flyer provided by Hungaroring refers to it as "Meet the drivers” and “Meet the team principals", but I’ve seen it called  "Fan Forum" and even “Fan Zone” (based on the name of the surrounding fan area, I assume).

More importantly, the time window given in the flyer is laughable: "Meet the team principals" was supposed to happen between 14:45 and 16:50 - so basically, any time between the first and second F1 practice session overlapping F2 and F3 qualifying. In reality, the first two interviews happened right before the F3 qualification and lasted 5 minutes each. A third interview was promised to happen later, but I wasn’t there. In fact, I almost missed the first two, as well because - while we understood from the large time frame that the interviews would happen sporadically within that time window, adjusting to the hectic schedule of the interviewees - we didn't really feel like missing both F2 and F3 quali so that we could maybe see our favourite team principal being interviewed for 5 minutes.

As it turned out, we weren't the only ones: the interviewer had to ask the people around the Fan zone to get closer to the stage so that there would be a visible crowd. In hindsight, we should have guessed that the interviews would happen between the on-track sessions, but why wasn't that communicated clearly? Do the organisers really expect people to miss the feeder series for a couple of interviews with team principals?

Personal experiences

Williams fans

I don’t know the exact percentages of fans, but if I had to guess, I’d say Mercedes had the most fans at the GP among those wearing merch. McLaren was also quite popular; RedBull had its own grandstand, full of tall people wearing orange and speaking in a language that sounds as if French people tried to speak German but only knew English. And, of course, there are the Ferrari fans, but that’s it. Teams lower than P4 in the constructors’ championship don’t really have big fanbases around here.

I tried to spot Williams merch, but there wasn’t much to see. Not only on people but in stores, either. Bigger teams had multiple merch stores around the track, but my favourite team had none.

On a positive note, whenever I did come across fellow supporters of the team from Grove, we always shared at least a smile, if not a wave and maybe even a Hello. There were so few Williams fans in the crowd that someone struck up a conversation with me only because of the clothes I was wearing. It felt like I was a member of a species on the verge of extinction. “Oh, look over there, that’s a Williams fan. Only a couple of them left. Such a rare thing to see!” I wish there were more of us here because it can feel lonely sometimes.

James Vowles on stage

The reason I was so upset about the lack of specificity regarding the Meet the team principals session was that I’m a huge fan of James Vowles, and I really wanted to see him live. That’s why I was willing to stand there in the burning sun, in the middle of the crowd, with my least favourite kind of music blasting from the loudest speakers I’ve ever heard for half an hour. My brother - bless his heart - tried his best to provide emotional support, but when there were only 10 minutes left until the F3 qualifying session, he figured there was no way they would do an interview now, and we should just return to our seats. We were already on our way when we heard the interviewer’s voice through the speakers, promising to do not one but two interviews with team principals. We rushed back in time to catch Laurent Mekies’ interview, which ended with the question that apparently everyone was asked that day: Where would you work if not in Formula 1? I know what you’re thinking - that’s such an unoriginal question; I could probably respond to it myself for most F1 personalities - but let’s focus on the positives: still better than duck-sized horses…

As the interviewer got ready to announce the next team principal, my brother noticed me getting nervous, excited, and even a bit fidgety. Sure enough, James Vowles hopped on the stage, and after I finished screaming (my biggest wish for this day was to see JV live, and it was accomplished!), my brother asked me if I knew this would happen. Since there is no way to answer “I could feel it!” without sounding like a lunatic, I just said no. 

The interview was more interesting than the previous one. There was a question about logistics I really liked, but I didn’t take notes because I assumed the video would be available on the internet. Sadly, I haven’t found it so far. I copied the crowd, waving and screaming, and my brother took one of those pictures people do where a famous person stands far away and looks tiny in the picture so that they can caption it “me and Beyoncé”. Afterwards, JV came off the stage to throw caps in the crowd as usual, and the interviewer announced that this was it for now. We turned around and started walking away - which was the second time we left the place too soon because then we were informed that JV was still there, signing autographs. I knew I had to try and get one.

The crowd was thick in front of the stage, and we could see there was no way to get him to sign anything from the fifth row. I took a moment to strategise. There was a meter-high cordon between JV and the fans, which stood along the front of the stage. When it reached the side of the stage, the cordon changed into a higher and not transparent fence - presumably to provide some privacy while the interviewees wait for their turn. That was my way. Standing next to that wall, neither the stage nor JV was visible - which is why nobody was standing there. However, it allowed me to approach the front of the crowd from the side, and if I stretched myself, I could hold my cap out from behind the wall. I hoped that JV would see it was a Williams cap and prioritise it (most people had him sign general, non-Williams stuff, and even other teams’ merchandise), but I knew it was a long shot. And then, a guy in the first row decided to help me.

Originally, he was turned away from me, and I must have brushed his head with my cap a couple of times because it didn’t take long for him to notice it and turn around. He could see me wearing a Williams T-shirt, holding out my Williams cap, and could probably tell what it would mean to me to get an autograph, so he offered to try to get it signed himself. From where he was standing, he could hold the cap closer, increasing my odds.

I must admit, being Hungarian and not being used to people helping strangers, my first thought was, what if he’s a scammer - all he has to do is get it signed, then run away with the cap. I did a bit of risk-reward analysis in my head, and I figured it was still worth it. So I placed my cap - and my faith - in his hands.

If this were a movie, it would probably have a happy ending: I’d get my cap signed, there’d be a lesson about kindness, and some sappy ending like making friends with the guy. In reality, by the end of all these shenanigans, JV was already leaving. He didn’t sign my cap - he didn’t even see it. But I did get it back from the guy and wasn’t too defeated as I walked back to my brother. This little act of kindness brought back my faith in humanity. Also, at the start of the day, the best I could expect was maybe seeing James Vowles live on a stage - I ended up within 2 meters of him and almost an autograph, which is not bad. I know there will be other GPs and other opportunities, so I’m fine for now.

Final remarks

Overall, we both really enjoyed our time at the Hungarian GP. Sure, the weather wasn’t ideal, and the crowd was big, but these are to be expected. We loved watching our favourite sport live, supporting our favourite drivers from the grandstands, and being surrounded by people who were just as enthusiastic about the sport as us - some even more. Shoutout to the woman in front of me waving a Danish flag with K-MAG written on it every time she saw a Haas car.

 We look forward to visiting next year, maybe even trying something different, and we will definitely do that Austrian camping weekend in a couple of years.

Rebus T. Farkas