2025 Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest - F1 Fantasy Race Preview, Strategy, and Analysis

Euan Leith's preview of the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix for F1 Fantasy includes weather updates, differentials for your squads, and predictions for qualifying and the race.

Happy Hungarian Grand Prix, RotoBallers! Formula 1 returns to Hungary after a tense showdown in the 2024 contest between McLaren teammates, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Fortunately, the 2025 edition is lining up to be a repeat affair for our viewing pleasure.

The deadline for the Hungarian Grand Prix in F1 Fantasy is Saturday, August 2, at 10 a.m. EDT, when Qualifying starts. Also, check out the rest of our excellent DFS racing coverage to get you through every NASCAR and Formula 1 race.

Want to build a winning fantasy F1 lineup? Check out our How To Play F1 Fantasy (Formula 1): Overview Guide, Tips, Chips, and Rules for all the essential tips and strategies to get you started on the right foot.

2025 Rotoballer F1 Fantasy League Update

The top five teams remain in place, but 'Are we having fun yet?' has moved into sole possession of the lead by two points after the Belgian Grand Prix.

If you want to join the battle with the rest of us F1 Fantasy managers, use code P1JOTPHDW09 to join the 2025 league!

Previous Hungarian Grand Prix Winners

• 2024: Oscar Piastri, McLaren
• 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• 2021: Esteban Ocon, Alpine
• 2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The win for @OconEsteban on Sunday was a win for all French sports fans 🇫🇷

And here's how French broadcaster @CanalplusF1 called him home for a famous victory! 🎧#HungarianGP 🇭🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/LE7u6hZ5uy

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 3, 2021

Hungarian Grand Prix Schedule

Friday, August 1

• Practice 1: 7:30 a.m. EDT
• Practice 2: 11:00 a.m. EDT

Saturday, August 2

• Practice 3: 6:30 a.m. EDT
• Qualifying: 10:00 a.m. EDT (***F1 Fantasy lineup lock***)

Sunday, August 3

• Race: 9:00 a.m. EDT

Hungarian Grand Prix Weather

Hungarian Grand Prix Predictions

Qualifying

1. Max Verstappen
2. Lando Norris
3. Oscar Piastri

Race

1. Lando Norris
2. Max Verstappen
3. Oscar Piastri

ONE BIG PREDICTION

Alex Albon sets a season high in F1 Fantasy points with his first 20-point outing of the season.

Bringing Out the Big Guns

Plenty of F1 Fantasy strategists are moving toward the 4A lineup. How can we construct this lineup or gain enough budget to get to that threshold?

We've been growing our budgets over the first 13 races of the F1 Fantasy season, and now it's time to put that cost cap to good use. Unfortunately, some of the high-priced assets aren't holding up their end of the bargain and forcing us to make some tough decisions.

As you can see from the above table, getting to the elusive 4A lineup (Four Tier A assets) may not be all it's cracked up to be. There are three variations of the lineup that I would consider moving forward with

4A Heavy

This is the lineup every F1 Fantasy manager wants to achieve. It gives you the two best constructors and the best bang-for-your-buck Tier A driver in Oscar Piastri. Pairing those three assets with George Russell is excellent and gets you in the ballpark of elevating Russell to a Ferrari driver in later races. If the price rises, go your way.

4A Regular

It's the same as 4A Heavy, but you are replacing Ferrari with Mercedes. This is where the idea of a 4A lineup gets controversial. As you can see on the table, my team (bottom row) is projected to score more points and gain more budget in Hungary.

The downside to going with 4A Regular is that you'll likely never gain enough budget to catch up to the 4A Heavy lineup, and that's the main goal. If Mercedes were to join the top of the grid again suddenly, then this lineup would be a great option.

4A Lite

I'm not a fan of this lineup for the Hungarian Grand Prix, but it could become a great option moving forward, thanks to Kimi Antonelli. The rookie has had a miserable second quarter of the 2025 season, but a 21-point performance in Belgium has his F1 Fantasy prospects turning around.

With another clean weekend in Budapest, Antonelli should be set to rise in price for the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break. Because he is a Tier B asset now, the Italian driver will increase $0.6m in price rather than the $0.3m that a Tier A driver would.

This gives those managers with lower budgets a chance to raise their cost cap and catch up to those F1 Fantasy managers on the verge of joining the 4A Heavy club.

Lineup Rankings for the Hungarian Grand Prix

Taking everything into account, this is how I would rank all four options in the table above ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix for F1 Fantasy.

1. 4A Heavy - If you can get to this lineup, get to it ASAP.
2. My Team - not that specific setup, but the blend of Tier A and Tier B with points and budget is ideal.
3. 4A Regular - There's more safety with George Russell in your lineup.
4. 4A Lite - Antonelli is set to fall, so I'll avoid him this weekend. However, this could be the second-best option at the Dutch GP.

Chip Strategy

The Hungaroring is known as Monaco without walls. Could this be the best remaining weekend to activate your Limitless chip?

Limitless

Over the last three seasons of F1 Fantasy, the Hungaroring is 15th out of 24 tracks for overtakes. Due to the circuit's lower overtaking nature, activating the Limitless chip is a great idea. The ability to have three practice sessions to nail down the five best drivers and two best constructors is quite a luxury.

However, the case against deploying the Limitless chip would be if you have several price fallers in your team. That list includes Isack Hadjar, Esteban Ocon, and Pierre Gasly. While scoring points is excellent, coming out the other side with a budget hit is far from ideal.

Final Fix

What makes the Limitless chip such a practical option could render the Final Fix chip very ineffective. Essentially, you want a front-runner (McLaren or Ferrari) to qualify low and then slice through the field for simple overtake points and positions gained. Unfortunately, that's unlikely to be the case at a low-overtake track like the Hungaroring.

Extra DRS

This chip worked out quite well for a few managers in Belgium, but it was a tad risky with the weather forecast. I prefer to play it on a sprint weekend when more points are up for grabs. I'm looking at Austin and Qatar as options toward the end of this campaign.

F1 Fantasy Drivers to Target and Avoid

Drivers rise and fall in price after every F1 race. So, which drivers should we target to gain budget, and which should we avoid to miss the dreaded price drops?

Drivers to Target (A Tier, >$18.5m)

• Oscar Piastri, McLaren
• Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Drivers to Avoid (A Tier, >$18.5m)

• Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
• George Russell, Mercedes

Drivers to Target (B Tier, <$18.5m)

• Alex Albon, Williams
• Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
• Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
• Ollie Bearman, Haas
• Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

Drivers to Avoid (B Tier, <$18.5m)

• Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
• Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
• Esteban Ocon, Haas
• Pierre Gasly, Alpine
• Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
• Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

☢️Toxic Assets in F1 Fantasy for the Hungarian GP☢️

Barring massive performances this weekend, the following drivers and constructors will struggle to rise in price for #F1Fantasy at the #HungarianGP

🅰️Tier Assets
- Max Verstappen
- Charles Leclerc
- George Russell

🇳🇱If Max…

— Euan Leith (@F1FantasyEuan) July 31, 2025

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