2022 Hungarian Grand Prix set for disruption and delays due to extreme weather

Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc topped the two practice sessions in Hungary on Friday.

There is a possibility that qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix may have to be pushed back to race day depending on how bad the rain gets on Saturday.

There is an 80 percent chance of rain for the start of the third and final practice session of the weekend on Saturday morning, and this is set to continue into qualifying, although there is a small chance that it could dry up in time to get qualifying underway.

The weather front is moving north-east through Budapest at the moment, and there are risks of thunderstorms hitting the Hungaroring in the afternoon.

The last time qualifying for a race was decided on Sunday morning was the Japanese Grand Prix of 2019, when the Saturday was rained off.

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Suzuka was also the scene of the same series of events in 2010 due to adverse weather conditions.

Mario Isola, head of Formula 1 and car racing at Pirelli, has been speaking with the Met Office in France, and can only hope that there is not a significant delay to qualifying.

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“I spoke with Meteo France, there is an 80% rain prediction already starting from tomorrow morning,” he said.

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“I hope qualifying is not delayed too much but there is a lot rain coming.”

Rain would also subsequently affect Formula 2, Formula 3 and the W Series, all of which are set to have races on Saturday.

Jehan Daruvala is set to start on pole for the F2 sprint race after Ayumu Iwasa’s tremendous performance put him in P1 ahead of the feature race on Sunday.

Oliver Goethe – standing in for the injured Hunter Yeany this weekend – will have first place at the start of the F3 sprint, with Alexander Smolyar on pole for the main event on Sunday.

In the W Series, Alice Powell took her maiden pole position on Saturday, while reigning champion and current championship leader, Jamie Chadwick, will go from fifth on the grid.