A handful of F1 Circus statistics after the 2026 Hungarian GP

The 2026 Hungarian GP race brought many interesting facts and statistics regarding drivers, teams, engines, lap times, and attendance in the stands. Details in the F1 race summary from the “A handful of statistics Circus F1” series after the 2026 Hungarian GP.

Read more Norris with a sure victory in the 2026 Hungarian GP

Achievements and records of drivers who finished on the podium

Lando Norris won the first race of this season and the 12th in his career.

The Hungaroring is the first track where Norris has won two F1 races.

Norris secured Pole Position for the first time this season, the second time at the Hungarian GP, and the 17th time in his career.

Norris won a race from Pole Position for the ninth time in his career.

Norris is the first driver to win the Hungarian GP from Pole Position since Hamilton in 2020.

Norris won qualifying and the race for the first time starting with car number 1.

Norris recorded his 47th career podium.

Norris achieved his fourth consecutive podium at the Hungarian GP.

Norris has stood on the podium three times this year, always on a different step.

Norris always advances to Q3 in qualifying at Hungary: 8/8 occasions. Only once (in 2025) did he lose to his teammate in qualifying.

Max Verstappen recorded his 131st career podium.

Verstappen achieved his fifth podium at the Hungarian GP.

Verstappen retired from the 2018 Hungarian GP due to a failure, but in all other races he finished in the points, specifically in the TOP9 positions.

Verstappen always advances to Q3 in qualifying at the Hungaroring: 12/12 occasions.

Kimi Antonelli recorded his 12th career podium.

Antonelli has stood on the podium nine times this year. In the other two races, he had serious technical problems and did not score points.

Antonelli only occupies TOP4 positions in qualifying this year.

Achievements of other drivers

Charles Leclerc has started nine times at the Hungarian GP but has never stood on the podium. A comparable result only in Brazil, where he competed seven times. At Hungary, Leclerc finished fourth in the race four times, including this year despite starting from second place.

Leclerc set the fastest lap in the race for the first time this season and the 12th time in his career.

Leclerc lined up on the front row for the Hungarian GP for the second consecutive time.

Lewis Hamilton holds the record at the Hungaroring for the most wins, podiums, Pole Positions, and points. Only in the fastest laps category does he lag behind, having set the fastest lap only twice, while Schumacher and Raikkonen have four each.

Hamilton has started the Hungarian GP 20 times. In 2010 he retired due to a failure, and in 2025 he finished only 12th. In the other 18 starts, he was always in the TOP6 at the finish, including 12 times on the podium.

Hamilton finished all races this year in TOP6 positions.

Isack Hadjar finished the last seven F1 races in TOP6 positions but has never formally achieved a podium.

George Russell advanced to Q3 in qualifying at Hungary only three times out of eight attempts.

Seventh place in qualifying is Russell’s worst result this season.

Liam Lawson finished eighth in both his starts at the Hungarian GP.

Nico Hulkenberg scored points in an F1 race for the first time this year.

Hulkenberg has mixed results at Hungary. He competed 13 times in Formula 1 at this track. In qualifying, he lost to his teammate only twice. In races, however, he scored points only three times.

Arvid Lindblad scored points in six consecutive races for the first time in his career.

Gabriel Bortoleto finished 11th in the race four times this year.

Fernando Alonso has participated in the Hungarian GP 23 times, scored points 17 times, finished 11th twice, and retired three times due to failures. In 2026, he finished 14th – the worst in his career counting only races where he reached the finish.

Alex Albon started his 100th F1 race with Williams. No other driver has driven for this team as long.

Lance Stroll started his 200th Formula 1 race. The Canadian became the 25th driver in F1 history to reach this number of races. The 2026 Hungarian GP was Stroll’s 204th F1 weekend, but he missed the race four times for various reasons.

Stroll recorded his best F1 race result this year – 13th place.

Fernando Alonso advanced to Q2 in qualifying for the first time this season.

Alex Albon recorded his worst qualifying result this year – 19th place.

Carlos Sainz recorded by far his worst results at Hungary in his career: 18th in qualifying and in the race. He has never scored points in this race with Williams. The Spaniard retired due to a failure in his 2015 debut and scored points every year from 2016 to 2024.

Oscar Piastri started an F1 race for the first time this year and did not finish.

Piastri’s fifth place in qualifying is his worst career result at the Hungaroring.

Sergio Perez has beaten his teammate in qualifying at the Hungaroring only once in his career.

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Valtteri Bottas was eliminated in Q1 in qualifying at Hungary for the first time in his career.

Statistics regarding teams and engines

McLaren recorded its 204th victory in Formula 1, including the 14th at the Hungarian GP. They have by far the most wins at Hungary among F1 teams.

McLaren achieved its 100th Formula 1 victory using a Mercedes engine.

McLaren has won at least one race in 40 different seasons. Only Ferrari is better, having won in 60 different seasons.

McLaren won the Hungarian GP for the third consecutive time.

McLaren recorded its 178th Pole Position in Formula 1, including the tenth at the Hungaroring.

During the last four F1 visits to the Hungaroring, McLaren drivers qualified in the TOP5.

McLaren secured six podium places during the last four races at Hungary.

Mercedes ended a streak of ten consecutive Pole Positions. Only 11 times in F1 history has a team had such a good result. The record is Williams’ streak of 24 consecutive Pole Positions in 1992–1993.

In every race this year, the Mercedes team has secured at least one podium place.

Mercedes drivers have led at least one lap in 200 different F1 races.

The last podium for Ferrari at the Hungarian GP was achieved by Carlos Sainz in 2021.

Audi scored points in the third consecutive race.

The last Williams driver to advance to Q3 in qualifying at Hungary was Valtteri Bottas in 2016.

Cadillac is the only team whose drivers have not advanced to Q2 in qualifying this year.

Other statistical curiosities after the 2026 Hungarian GP

The Hungarian GP has been on the Formula 1 calendar for the 41st time. Since 1986, the host has always been the Hungaroring.

During the last five F1 qualifying sessions at the Hungaroring, the winner’s advantage over the second driver was less than 0.050 seconds.

From 2024 to 2026, the Hungarian GP was won by a McLaren driver, a Mercedes driver was third, and Charles Leclerc was fourth.

Five different drivers have won the last five F1 races this year.

Hamilton is the only driver who has completed all laps this season.

Hamilton is the only driver who has scored points in every race this season.

Out of 33 possible podiums this year: Mercedes secured 14, Ferrari nine, McLaren five, Red Bull four, and Alpine one.

Lap times, top speed, and pit stops at the 2026 Hungarian GP

Lando Norris won qualifying for the 2026 Hungarian GP with a time of 1:17.207. The McLaren driver’s result was 3.76 seconds slower than the qualifying record at the Hungaroring set by Lewis Hamilton in 2020 – 1:13.447.

Charles Leclerc set the fastest lap in the race. The Monegasque clocked 1:22.000 on lap 58. This is 5.373 seconds slower than the official Hungaroring race lap record (official records come from races) set by Hamilton in 2020 – 1:16.627.

The highest top speed during the race was achieved by Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard recorded 346.8 km/h at the top speed measurement point. In 2025, the maximum speed in the F1 race at Hungary was significantly lower – 319.0 km/h by Nico Hulkenberg. The 2026 result will be a record in the history of this circuit. The top speed measurement point at the Hungaroring is on the main straight but far from the braking point, so the actual maximum speed was much higher. According to telemetry data, Sainz reached 358 km/h.

The fastest pit stop during the 2026 Hungarian GP was performed by the Racing Bulls team mechanics. On lap 20, they changed all wheels on Arvid Lindblad’s car in 1.99 seconds. This is the new fastest pit stop this year. They improved Ferrari’s result from the Chinese GP – 2.00 seconds.

Attendance at the 2026 Hungarian GP

Formula 1 announced during the TV broadcast that the weekend attendance at the 2026 Hungarian GP was 310,000 fans. This matches the attendance record for this event, previously also achieved in 2024. Tickets for the Sunday race were sold out for the fifth consecutive time (Source), and the stands were indeed full that day. On previous days, there were few free seats in the stands. I have a certain problem with this race because in recent years the entire circuit has been heavily modernized, a new main grandstand was built, and facilities for fans were improved. It was announced that the circuit capacity would be increased. However, it seems this did not happen. Attendance in recent years is very similar, only dropping last year when not all stands were available. We do not know the exact current capacity of the stands at this circuit, but it should be a value exceeding 100,000 seats.

The F1 race is traditionally the biggest sporting event in Hungary each year with the highest fan attendance.

Statistical summaries of previous Formula 1 races and more can be found under the tag Statistics.

Read more Qualification analysis before the 2026 Hungarian GP