Carlos Sainz said his long-term future at Williams depends on how quickly the team recovers from its difficult 2026 Formula 1 season, and he has not set a firm deadline for deciding whether to stay beyond 2026. Speaking ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sainz said discussions with team principal James Vowles and his management are expected during the summer break, and he warned that he will only wait so long for the team to improve. He also said he may need to reassess his decision over the next three to four years if Williams’s turnaround does not stay on track.

Williams has struggled this year with an overweight car, production delays and poor performance, leaving the team on 11 points from the first 10 races and at the back of the midfield. Sainz has scored six of those points. He said the season has been much harder than he expected after an encouraging 2025 campaign, and that the new 2026 regulations did not help Williams maintain its place or move closer to the front. He described the campaign as “character-building” and said it has shown how much work remains if Williams wants to fight a top team.

Even with the setbacks, Sainz said he still believes in Vowles’s long-term project and sees investment being made behind the scenes. He said the team now has a clearer understanding of its shortcomings, but improving the situation will take time, effort, budget-cap money and analysis. Sainz, who joined Williams after leaving Ferrari, said Vowles’s long-term plan persuaded him to make the move, though Williams’s struggles have pushed back his expected timeline for race-winning form by one or two years.

Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull remained a central topic in Formula 1 as speculation grew around performance-based exit clauses and interest from rival teams. Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies said the driver market was working in both directions, with many good drivers contacting the team about seats, and he said the attention was not a distraction. Verstappen’s contract runs through the end of 2028, but reports have centered on clauses that could give him an exit after this season, with one possible trigger linked to the period after the Hungarian Grand Prix if he is outside the top two in the championship. An October decision deadline has also been mentioned.

Mekies said Red Bull’s priority was to make the car faster and keep Verstappen, and he said the ideal long-term lineup was Verstappen alongside Isack Hadjar. Mekies praised Hadjar’s recent form, noting the rookie had finished in the top six in each of his last six grands prix and had recovered to sixth in Belgium after starting from the back because of a penalty. He said Red Bull wanted to preserve the Verstappen-Hadjar pairing as the team pushed to close the gap to the front.

Verstappen said he was focused on helping Red Bull solve its complicated problems ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, and he did not give a clear answer when asked about his future. The Dutch driver has not won a race in 2026, and Red Bull’s first season as a fully fledged works team has been marked by teething issues. After 10 rounds, the team was described as arguably only the fourth-fastest package on the grid, behind McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, and that lack of consistent pace has fueled speculation about Verstappen’s future beyond this season. Mekies said he was optimistic Verstappen would stay if the car continued to improve, while Verstappen said he would speak up himself if anything changed.

Colton Herta is getting another Formula 1 chance with Cadillac, as the team confirmed he will drive Valtteri Bottas’ car in Friday’s first practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The run will be Herta’s second F1 practice appearance of the season and comes six weeks after his official grand prix weekend debut in Barcelona, where he replaced Sergio Perez. Herta, Cadillac’s official test, reserve and development driver, also races in Formula 2 for Hitech, and the Hungarian session will mean he has driven both of Cadillac’s cars on grand prix weekends.

Herta said the outing will give him more experience and help Cadillac’s car development and long-term progress. Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon said the team is still working to improve reliability and gather mileage on the MAC-26. The team has yet to score a point after 10 rounds of its first Formula 1 season, with Bottas’ 13th place in China still its best finish. Perez came close to delivering Cadillac’s first point in Monaco before a penalty dropped him to 15th, and Bottas and Perez still each need to sit out one more practice session later in the season to complete the team’s mandatory rookie running.

Herta’s bid for a future Cadillac race seat is tied to his progress in Formula 2, where he has yet to win, stand on the podium or take pole position this season. He has scored five points finishes through eight rounds, with his best result coming in Barcelona, and by mid-to-late July he was around 13th to 17th in the standings with roughly 20 to 26 points. Cadillac’s next decisions on its driver lineup will likely depend in part on whether Herta can produce stronger, more consistent results in the second half of the season.

McLaren is bringing a significant upgrade package and an experimental rear wing to the Hungarian Grand Prix, as it looks to close a development gap and rebuild momentum in its title defense before Formula 1’s summer break. The package for the MCL40 centers on a new or revised floor, along with other aerodynamic parts, and the team said Budapest offered an important chance to add performance after seeing itself as two to three months behind rivals in aerodynamic development.

The team will run the updates in practice sessions at the Hungaroring, including Friday testing of its upside-down, Macarena-style rear wing. McLaren said the wing, which was developed after a previous version failed to debut in Austria, is part of its effort to improve competitiveness. It does not expect the experimental wing to become a full-time race component in Hungary or at the following Dutch Grand Prix.

Racing director Randy Singh said Budapest’s high-downforce, tire-sensitive layout should help McLaren gather meaningful data and head into the shutdown with positive momentum. Team principal Andrea Stella said Hungary should provide the first results of the team’s development direction and said more upgrades are expected after the break. McLaren is third in the constructors’ standings, 163 points behind Mercedes after 10 races, and has said the updated parts will be evaluated across all three practice sessions. Leonardo Fornaroli will replace Oscar Piastri in Friday’s FP1 session for his second rookie outing of the season.

Leonardo Fornaroli will make his second Formula 1 practice appearance when McLaren runs him in Friday’s FP1 session at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the 21-year-old Italian set to drive Oscar Piastri’s car at the Hungaroring. The outing gives McLaren another chance to evaluate its junior driver as the team works through the rookie running required in four mandatory FP1 sessions this season.

Fornaroli made his F1 weekend debut in Barcelona earlier this year, when he drove Lando Norris’ car and finished fifth in FP1. He joined McLaren in December after winning back-to-back Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles, and had not previously been affiliated with an F1 team. He has also completed a two-day TPC test for Haas at Jerez in the VF-25, with rumors linking him to a possible future seat there, and said he has spent recent weeks preparing in McLaren’s simulator and performance hub.

McLaren is using the Budapest weekend to gather data on a revised car as it brings an important upgrade package that includes a new floor and other aerodynamic parts. The team is trying to close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari, and it will test a developed version of its experimental rear wing only in FP1, not as a full introduction in Hungary or at the next race in the Netherlands. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the team is also exploring ways to place Fornaroli on the grid.

F1’s Hungarian Grand Prix runs July 24-26 at the Hungaroring in Budapest as the 11th round of the 2026 season and the final race before the summer break. In the UK, Sky Sports F1 will show every session live, while non-Sky customers can stream through a NOW day pass or month pass, as well as NOW and Sky Go. Channel 4 will air free highlights of the weekend.

The F1 timetable opens with practice on Friday, followed by qualifying at 3 p.m. on Saturday UK time and the race at 2 p.m. on Sunday UK time. In the United States, viewers can watch sessions on Apple TV through a new F1 channel, and F1 TV Pro is available in regions without exclusive TV contracts. The Hungaroring is a tight circuit where overtaking is difficult, and dry conditions are expected throughout the weekend, with race-day temperatures forecast to reach 31C.

F3 also races in Budapest as round 7 of its 2026 season and its final round before the summer break. Free practice is set for Friday at 09:55 local time and lasts 45 minutes, qualifying follows on Friday at 15:00 for 30 minutes, and the sprint race is on Saturday before the feature race on Sunday. Every F3 session will be shown live on F1TV. Kimi Antonelli arrives in Hungary after winning the Belgian Grand Prix and leads the Drivers’ Championship by 45 points.

Red Bull is set to hire Mercedes junior driver programme chief Gwen Lagrue in a move aimed at strengthening its driver development operation, with the role described as similar to the one previously held by Helmut Marko. The move has not been finalized and no start date has been agreed, as Mercedes and Red Bull continue to negotiate Lagrue’s release from his contract.

Lagrue has led Mercedes’ junior programme since 2016 and played a central role in the development of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, whom Mercedes signed at 11 and promoted to Formula 1 in 2025. Lagrue also helped support Esteban Ocon, Frederik Vesti and Alex Albon during their time in Mercedes’ driver programme. Before joining Mercedes, Lagrue ran Lotus’ junior program after being recruited in 2011 and helped bring through Ocon and Albon.

Neither Red Bull nor Mercedes has confirmed the move. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend that discussions were ongoing and that nothing had been agreed or decided. If completed, the appointment would add a highly regarded talent spotter to Red Bull’s junior pathway, with Lagrue expected to work alongside team principal Laurent Mekies as the team reshapes its driver recruitment structure.

Martin Brundle said Formula 1 has lost part of its identity at high-speed circuits because the current regulations force drivers to manage energy instead of attacking iconic corners flat out. He said drivers were lifting through sections at Spa-Francorchamps during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend to harvest battery energy, a problem he said had already affected Silverstone. Brundle said corners including Maggotts and Becketts at Silverstone, and Eau Rouge, Raidillon and the Kemmel Straight at Spa, were no longer being taken at full speed, which left him “with a tear in my eye.”

Brundle said the current rules have hurt the spectacle at high-speed tracks and should be scrapped “as soon as possible.” He said the cars still look impressive and the racing can still be entertaining, but added that the energy-management concept needs to go. He noted planned regulation changes for 2027 and 2028, and said he wants the current concept gone by 2030 or 2031. Brundle also backed FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s push to return to V8 engines on sustainable fuels, a proposal aimed at 2030 or 2031.

Other drivers, including Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris, have also complained about energy management. Brundle said recent races at Silverstone and Spa exposed the problem of yoyo-racing, with drivers forced to lift in places such as Eau Rouge and Maggotts and Becketts to recover battery energy. He said live telemetry was mostly hidden from viewers during the weekend, although the audio still revealed drivers backing off.

Oscar Piastri criticized Formula 1 stewards after Charles Leclerc was cleared over their lap-eight collision at the Belgian Grand Prix, saying the Ferrari driver should at least have received a warning or a black-and-white flag after squeezing him wide at Les Combes. The FIA ruled there was no penalty, saying Leclerc had not deliberately crowded Piastri off the track and that Piastri did not have enough overlap, or any realistic chance of completing the pass, to claim the corner.

The clash came as Piastri tried to pass Leclerc for third place on the outside as they headed into Turn 5, with the cars making slight side-to-side contact. Piastri said he was forced onto the white line and onto the kerb, and he said the impact damaged his McLaren, caused floor damage and hurt his downforce, balance and tire wear for the rest of the race. McLaren fitted him with a new nose during his pit stop, and Piastri said the contact nearly triggered a bigger crash. He said the damage was the main reason his race unraveled.

Leclerc briefly inherited the lead later under a virtual safety car before finishing second behind Kimi Antonelli. Piastri faded to fifth, saying the car’s pace dropped off in the later stints and that McLaren was stronger at the start of runs than in clean air and traffic toward the end.