Race preview: Budapest
Find out everything you need to know about Luke’s next outing at the Hungaroring
Published
30 JUL 2025
Est. reading time
3 min
Luke will be raring to go when he takes to the track in Budapest, after a morale-boosting result last Sunday.
The 23-year-old secured his first podium finish since late May, as he placed third in the Feature Race at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
That was his seventh time in the top three this campaign — and he’ll be targeting a similar outcome once again at the Hungaroring this weekend.
The state of play
Things remain tight at the top of the Formula 2 Drivers’ Standings, with Luke currently sitting in fifth place after nine rounds of action.
Our Hitech TGR racer has 113 points on the board after his 15-point haul in Belgium, but will need to keep delivering the goods to maintain pressure on leader Leonardo Fornaroli.
Fornaroli’s 125 points mean he has a 12-point advantage over Luke as things stand, though it’s an eminently closable gap with five race weekends remaining.
The margins between the other drivers in the top five are just as tight, with Richard Verschoor (122), Jak Crawford (116) and Alexander Dunne (114) in second, third and fourth, respectively.
Previous stints at the Hungaroring
Compared to some other tracks, Luke has relatively little experience of driving at the Hungaroring.
His only previous visits have come during his two years in Formula 3, when he made a pair of trips to Mogyoród with Hitech Pulse-Eight in 2022 and 2023 — competing in two races on each occasion.
The Cheshire native’s results were solid if unspectacular in three of those, but he did finish P8 in his first race there in 2024.
It was one of 11 top-10 placings Luke recorded that season, during a campaign that featured two race wins and a further appearance on the podium in Monaco.
Track talk
The Hungaroring can be a challenging track to navigate, with its demanding nature, grippy surface and typically hot weather testing drivers’ endurance and understanding in equal measure.
Qualifying is particularly important on the outskirts of Budapest, because there aren’t a great deal of overtaking opportunities at this venue.
The best chance to pass other cars is likely to come in Sector 1, primarily at the braking zone into Turn 1 and at Turn 3.
Single-file turns are the order of the day in Sector 2, prior to a trio of corners and a burst down the pit straight in Sector 3.
This 4.381 km (2.722 miles) circuit is often likened to a karting track, so there should be no shortage of entertainment in the rolling hills of Pest County.
Race times
Free Practice is set to take place at 11.05am CEST on Friday, ahead of Qualifying at 3.55pm.
The Sprint Race will then start at 2.15pm on Saturday, before the weekend concludes with Sunday’s Feature Race at 10am CEST.
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