Formula 1 is on the cusp of its 2026 summer break - but there is no 'last day of school' feeling at the Hungarian Grand Prix so far, with teams and drivers up and down pitlane still having much to work through and much to confirm.

From a new Aston Martin to software tweaks that can have an outsized influence on the title battle, here is what we learned during F1's Hungaroring media day.

Russell confident deployment drama is behind him

George Russell believes that the deployment problems that held him back at Spa and Silverstone, which he described as “effectively numbers on the screen that were not quite calibrated properly”, have been solved. 

Not only does that mean he shouldn't be held back on the straights, but also he can concentrate on being able to drive more naturally rather than constantly thinking about finding a solution purely through driving technique.

“It’s a huge load off my mind, also while I’m driving because throughout some laps in Silverstone and then throughout the majority of Friday and Saturday in Spa, I was thinking about how I needed to drive to make the power unit fast in the straight, how I pick up the throttle, the gear usage, how early I am before throttle. The data was telling us that was probably the reason [I was lacking speed] but it turned out it wasn't the reason.

“All of that effort over the course of three sessions trying to re-optimise my driving around a new technique was kind of for nothing. So, I'm looking forward now to going into a weekend where I can just try to focus on driving fast, focus on the simple things.” - Edd Straw

Leclerc agrees with Piastri over clash

The stewards' inaction during the Belgian Grand Prix over the contact between Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri was a source of surprise for many, including Piastri himself.

But even Leclerc looked a little sheepish at the time over having got away without sanction - and his take on the incident four days later supported this impression.

"I kind of agree with Oscar, I think," Leclerc admitted when Piastri's reaction to the clash was put to him.

"At the end of the day my view in the car is that I try to push the things to the limit. I think with Oscar it was a bit on the other side [of the limit] - so that's probably not the way I want to race all the time.

"It's also risky for me at the end of the day, so, yeah. You're always trying to leave the smallest place available. That was maybe a bit too 'sketchy'." - Valentin Khorounzhiy

Cadillac ‘a bit scared’ of Aston Martin upgrade 

Cadillac has managed to pull well clear of Aston Martin in recent rounds, even enjoying an advantage in excess of two seconds per lap at Spa.

But Valtteri Bottas said he’s “a little bit scared in a way that if [Aston Martin] makes a big step, then we're at the back”. 

That’s because while Cadillac has further development planned for 2026, it’s bringing “no magic, nothing huge”, so a big Aston Martin improvement would likely leave it cast adrift. 

And, incidentally, Sergio Perez and Bottas have very differing opinions on the success of Cadillac’s development this year. 

Perez believes “we haven't developed enough”, albeit with the caveat that Cadillac is a new team, while Bottas thinks “compared to the top teams, our development rate has been good”. 

Cadillac has its own important update at the Hungarian GP as it has a bolstered brakes package. Without it, Bottas said “most likely we would have not” finished the race, given how tough the Hungaroring is on brakes and how much Cadillac suffered at the Red Bull Ring (where neither car made it past lap four). - Josh Suttill

Bortoleto sticking up for F1's 'AI' engines

The particularities of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend - and the heightened attention to the role of machine learning in managing deployment - meant another round of heavy driver criticism towards the 2026 formula from drivers.

"What I saw was not Formula 1," said Perez, reduced to a spectator by a lap 13 suspension failure. "And I don't want to keep going on it, but definitely it wasn't nice."

But Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto, the most vocal proponent of the '26 cars for a while now, insisted he doesn’t see a problem with the growing prevalence of these forward-thinking algorithms.

“We are in Formula 1. We are developing the future technology. If we are not using all the tools that are available in the world for us, in our favour, then I don't know what F1 is about,” Bortoleto argued.

“People used to complain because nowadays the drivers have too much things to do. Now that there are things doing it for us, we are complaining now that they are doing it for us - so, I'm happy with the way it's going.

“It's nice that the software is able to adapt itself and understand what and how much energy you are deploying through the lap and how to evolve through the laps, next laps you are doing.

“I don't think it should change, if I'm very honest, that's my opinion.” - JS

Racing Bulls pair get on better than it seemed

The Racing Bulls drivers have already had their fair share of on-track battles in 2026, and Spa was no different, where Arvid Lindblad, aided by a full upgrades package, eventually got the better of Liam Lawson - but not before a tense run through Eau Rouge and braking into Les Combes.

This came just weeks after Lawson was irritated by Lindblad actively spurning a team order - but while it's clear the pair are consistently in each other's way and under heightened (even by F1 standards) pressure to beat one another, things are more cordial between them than you might assume.

Lindblad has hailed the team for letting them “race hard but fair” and lifted the lid on the good relationship between the two drivers.

“I think for me, I've honestly been positively surprised in that sense,” Lindblad said. “When you're younger, you see so much, so many stories [about team-mate rivalries]. I think Netflix also make it a bit worse than it sometimes is, but there's lots of this sort of stuff.

“But honestly we get along really well, and I have a lot of respect for Liam for that. We raced hard in Spa, and as soon as we saw each other after the race he told me 'well done and a good race' - and I think that was really impressive from him, and I've always tried to do the same.”

Lawson added: “I don't know many cars that have gone side-by-side through Eau Rouge and carried on down the whole straight like we did. So yeah, it was good, honestly.”

Racing Bulls can also thank a two-hour-delayed easyJet flight to Budapest for reinforcing the pair's relationship.

“Arvid was sat in the middle, so I got the window, so it was alright,” was Lawson’s assessment. - Eden Hannigan

A different kind of Mercedes upgrade

A new-look Mercedes safety car will be deployed at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix if required: an all-wheel-drive variant of the Mercedes-AMG GT.

It marks the 14th different variant of the Mercedes safety car, which debuted with the Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG in 1996.

The original 1996 safety car was present alongside the new Mercedes safety car (or the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 PRO 4MATIC+ to give it its full title) for a photo opportunity with the Mercedes drivers on the Hungaroring start/finish straight on Thursday.

Veteran safety car driver Bernd Maylander said the new safety car “combines the highest levels of safety with impressive sportiness and driving pleasure”.

He said it “really comes into its own when cornering and accelerating” with the active suspension.

The car is powered by a 612hp engine and has a top speed of 317km/h with a nine-speed AMG Speedshift MCT 9G transmission.

Mercedes had shared responsibility with Aston Martin between 2021 and 2025 but became the sole supplier again from the start of 2026.

It's covered in a red 30th anniversary livery this weekend. - JS

Antonelli needs to curb his track limits addiction

One of Kimi Antonelli’s strengths is analysing where to improve, and even after taking his sixth win of the season at Spa he accepted the criticism from his father, Marco, that he takes too many liberties with track limits.

“I like to use the track sometimes a bit too much, so it’s something that I’m trying to work on. I look back at Spa and the track limits [violations] I did were very stupid, I was like ‘what the heck am I doing?’”

Antonelli twice exceeded track limits during the race at Spa, both at Raidillon, which made him the only driver to have more than one offence during the race.

While that’s two short of the number that triggers a penalty, Antonelli knows that it’s not just about the risk of losing time but also the opportunity cost of exceeding track limits when he doesn’t need to. 

“It’s something I need to work on because sometimes in a race I might need to use them. But if I use them when I don't need to, then I might find myself in trouble,” he said.

“My dad, [after the race] said, ‘congrats, but if I see you doing another track limits [breach] for nothing, I'm going to stretch your neck like a chicken!'”. - ES

One-sided Haas battle hasn’t been a ‘fair fight’

Ollie Bearman has comprehensively outperformed his Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon over the first 10 rounds of F1 2026, beating him 11-3 in qualifying (including sprints) and 'outpointing' him 18-3.

But when Bearman was asked whether he expected to be so far ahead, he cautioned it hasn’t always been a “fair fight” at Haas this year because of the parts inconsistency issues that have plagued both drivers.

“I've been on the bad side of [it], I've also been on the good side of that, but it's a shame because it means that you're always chasing a moving target and overnight we can have changes to our car balance without expecting that,” Bearman explained.

“All of that to say it's not always a fair fight, the one that we are having, and sometimes we feel like we're fighting with our hands almost tied behind our back.”

While Bearman said he’s “happy with what I’m doing”, he added “the story is not necessarily what you see on the headline”.

Ocon said at Spa that he only felt like he had “normal car performance” at two of the 10 rounds so far.

Haas has changed a lot of his parts for the Hungarian GP, swapping him onto a different floor, different rear wing and different engine.

Ocon said in Hungary: “I am sure we will come out of this. It is true that it has been persisting for some time now, which is difficult, but we are sticking together, and we will fix it.” - JS

Albon eyed engineer expected to work with Verstappen

Alex Albon is on the lookout for a new race engineer for 2026 because James Urwin, who has worked with him since the start of 2022, is moving to a factory-based role next year.

Albon had agreed a move with Tom Hart, who was his performance engineer at Red Bull in 2020, but this move is not going to happen as Hart ultimately decided to stay at Red Bull.

That’s partly because Hart is expected to take over from Gianpiero Lambiase as Max Verstappen's race engineer, having already stood in on a number of occasions. But it is not clear exactly what stage any talks with Williams had progressed to.

Fortunately, despite missing out, Albon and Williams have some other accomplished targets.

"We obviously went for Tom. I think Tom's a great guy, a great engineer, but we've also got ideas in place," Albon said.

"James, my current race engineer, he's going to go more towards a factory-based role, which I think he's going to be amazing at.

"For us, it's now just trying to find someone who can take that process on, take the engineering role from James next year. We have a few people in mind, but I think every person that we've gone out to is someone that I've also had an involvement in." - ES