2016 Hungarian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Rosberg leads Hamilton by a single point — 168 to 167.

Previous race

Hamilton won Britain for the third consecutive year and became the record winner at Silverstone with four victories. Rosberg crossed the line second but received a ten-second post-race penalty for receiving illegal assistance via team radio — Mercedes instructed him to avoid seventh gear and reset his gearbox to avoid a failure, which the stewards ruled was not compliant with sporting regulations banning driver coaching. Rosberg dropped to third, with Verstappen promoted to second. Hamilton’s championship deficit shrank from eleven points to one.

Between-race developments

The FIA has revised the pit-to-car communication rules ahead of this race. Following criticism after Rosberg’s British GP penalty — and concerns raised by Force India after Pérez’s brake failure in Austria — the rules are amended: from Hungary onwards, any car with an issue serious enough to require team intervention must pit or retire immediately. The revisions have been particularly criticised by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

New electronic monitoring is introduced at selected corners for this race, with pressure-sensitive plates placed under kerbs and linked to car transponders to detect when a driver runs wide.

Qualifying

Mixed conditions in Q1 meant a record eleven drivers failed to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap: Verstappen, Ricciardo, Hülkenberg, Bottas, Pérez, Magnussen, Palmer, Wehrlein, Haryanto, Ericsson and Massa. All eleven were permitted to start the race; the five fastest among them — Ricciardo, Verstappen, Hülkenberg, Bottas and Pérez — were allowed to proceed to Q2.