Formula 1 has left Austria and headed east, with the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. There are two races under the drivers' hoods so far, with Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes winning the opening Austrian Grand Prix, and Lewis Hamilton and and Mercedes taking the follow-up race last weekend at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
This weekend drivers hit the Hungaroring in Budapest. Friday's practice sessions were wet ones. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel led the second run with the fastest time of 1 minute, 40.464 seconds — just 0.272 seconds ahead of Bottas and his Mercedes.
Saturday's qualifying saw Lewis Hamilton take things up yet another notch. He set a new track record on his first try — and he beat that by a tenth of a second on his second run. (In case it needs to be said, he's on the pole for Sunday's race.)
Teammate Bottas earned the other spot on the front row, qualifying just 0.107 seconds behind Hamilton.
Racing point filled out the second row, with Lance Still starting third and Sergio Perez in fourth.
How are things going to shake out in Budapest? For the most part at this point everyone's chasing after Mercedes not just in this week's race (especially after the show that Hamilton and Bottas put on in qualifying, but in the season over all so far. But there's still a lot of racing to be done before the abbreviated season is over.
Right now races are scheduled through September, with teams headed to England for two races in August, followed by Spain, Belgium, a twin bill in Italy, and then Russia.
But let's not look too far ahead just yet. First, there's the Hungarian Grand Prix.
How to watch the Hungarian Grand Prix in the United States
This week's (and weekend's) racing will be on the ESPN family of channels in the United States. Things start out on ESPN with the early practice rounds before finally moving to ESPN proper for Sunday morning's race.
All times are Eastern.
- Friday, July 17: Practice One, ESPN2, 4:55 a.m. - ESPN2
- Friday, July 17: Practice Two, ESPN2, 8:55 a.m.
- Saturday, July 18: Practice Three, ESPNews, 5:55 a.m.
- Saturday, July 18: Qualifying, ESPN, 8:55 a.m.
- Sunday, July 19: Build-up show, ESPN, 7:30 a.m.
- Sunday, July 19: Hungarian Grand Prix, ESPN, 9:05 a.m.
How to watch the Hungarian Grand Prix in Canada
How to watch the Hungarian Grand Prix in Canada, you'll be doing so on RDS or TSN.
The RDS schedule for the Hungarian Grand Prix is:
- Saturday, July 18: Qualifying, RDS, 8:45 a.m.
- Sunday, July 19: Hungarian Grand Prix, RDS, 8:50 a.m.
The TSN schedule for the Hungarian Grand Prix is:
- Friday, July 17: Practice, ESPN, ESPN, 8:45 a.m.
- Saturday, July 18: Qualifying, ESPN, 8:55 a.m.
- Sunday, July 19: Hungarian Grand Prix, ESPN, 9:05 a.m.
How to watch the Hungarian Grand Prix in the United Kingdom
If you're in the United Kingdom and watch to watch the Hungarian Grand Prix, you'l be looking to Sky Sports. It's carrying all three practices as well as qualifying and the race itself. All times are BDT.
Here's the full schedule:
- Friday, July 17: Practice 1, Sky Sports, 9:30 a.m.
- Friday, July 17: Practice 2, Sky Sports, 13:45
- Saturday, July 18: Practice 3, Sky Sports, 10:45
- Saturday, July 18: Qualifying, Sky Sports, 13:00
- Sunday, July 19: Hungarian Grand Prix, Sky Sports, 12:30 p.m.
