The FIA is monitoring problems with the Hungaroring track surface opening up, but hopes that Formula 1 can avoid a repeat of what happened in Monaco when the race was red-flagged because of a similar problem.

The first day of running in Hungary witnessed plenty of lurid slides, lock-ups and weird lines being chosen as drivers battled against an uneven and dirty track surface.

While some of the headaches were caused by bumps, another key concern has emerged with the track surface also deteriorating – as The Race’s exclusive photograph of the last corner shows.

The stones appear to be coming loose and this is causing problems with both a rough surface for the cars to run across and also making things extra dirty off-line.

Drivers have been far from impressed with the state of the asphalt – with concern about the bumps and the asphalt raised during the FIA in Friday night drivers’ briefing.

Mercedes driver George Russell was one of several drivers who bemoaned the state of the track.

"It's a bit of a shame, because Budapest is one of the most enjoyable circuits to drive,” he said. "They've resurfaced a third of the track and unfortunately they've done a really bad job.

"It's really bumpy. You saw loads of people locking up at Turn 1, and the track's breaking up in the last corner. People are sort of driving around the middle of the corner and not actually hitting the apex, which is just a bit odd."

Following concerns raised in the drivers’ briefing, F1 race director Rui Marques and other officials conducted a track inspection on Friday night (above).

The bump at Turn 1 appeared to have been a consequence of the transition between an old and new surface not being completely flat.

Following the track inspection, Hungarian GP organisers worked to compress the bumps as much as possible to try to help make things better for the cars.

This focused on two areas – one on the racing line itself and another in the area on the inside where an overtaking car would likely be.

In terms of the asphalt breaking up, The Race understands that issues had already emerged in recent weeks as other categories ran on the track that had been resurfaced at Turns 1 and 12.

Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra said: "I had feedback from the circuit before this event some weeks ago that the track was opening up from other championships running here."

Some repair work had been completed ahead of this weekend – like at Turn 1 as seen above – which appears to have held up so far.

However, there is an impact from these patches as they do not offer the same amount of grip as the normal asphalt.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri said that it made things very tricky for drivers.

"The track surface is quite bizarre in a couple of places," he said. "In the new bits, where it's worn away and they've added in some strips of tarmac, it's quite inconsistent."

The bigger issue is at the final corner though where the surface is coming away on the racing line so forcing drivers wide.

While the FIA will need to carefully observe how the surface is impacted by more running over the rest of the weekend, even if it holds together there will still be consequences for drivers.

Berra suggested that the main concern here was that the rough surface would have consequences for tyre degradation.

"The risk is to reduce the grip level and to slide more in this area," he said.

"You generate more overheating in the end because you slide more. And obviously, it can get worse lap by lap, especially I would expect for a race where all the cars are running together, especially if the temperatures will be hotter in the next couple of days."

In Monaco, a resurfaced area of track on the approach to the final corner deteriorated over the weekend and eventually forced the race to be stopped so emergency repairs could be completed.