Seven readers from around the world share their personal experience of attending the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring
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Sarah from the UK
Hungary was our third track experience, having been to Barcelona and Spa in recent years. We chose to stay in Vác, a town north of Budapest and about 30 km from the Hungaroring. This was based on our experience in Barcelona, where we deliberately stayed in a village east of the track in an effort to avoid the traffic leaving the circuit and heading back to the city.
We picked Hungary as it’s one of the cheaper tracks on the calendar, and also because they offer a 3-corner ticket, where you get to experience a different grandstand on each day. We really enjoyed this, particularly as on the Sunday we were at the first corner in Gold 4 and saw Verstappen taking ‘Red Bull gives you wings’ a bit too literally!
After reading reviews on the F1 Destinations Facebook group from previous years, we were a little apprehensive about how well organized the weekend would be. We found it to be on a par with the other two tracks we’ve visited. Of course there are queues at various points (traffic entering and leaving the area, water refill stations, toilets, food and so on) but these queues mostly disappeared fairly quickly.
We did notice significant traffic queues on Sunday morning, which were heading towards the south of the circuit for the free parking closest to the main entrance gate. We’d parked in the free parking near Gate 2 which was much quieter. It took around 20 minutes to walk to the Silver/Gold grandstands but we didn’t mind this.
There were significant queues for the bus at the end of each day. We heard from others that the city shuttle was a much better option so worth doing your research to avoid queuing for too long in the heat.
We also bought tickets for the pit lane walk on Thursday. This was the most disappointing aspect of our trip. Fans entered the pits at the start so many chose to stop and wait by the garages of Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, making it really tricky for others to see or even get past. We chose to stay on the track and look through the fences. We did see Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo though!
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. If it’s hot, don’t forget a hat and sunscreen!
Evelin from Sweden
This was my second time at the Hungaroring with my friend, Staffan. We first attended in 2022 with general admission tickets, but we decided to upgrade to the Bronze 1 grandstand this time. That was just one of the different choices we made this year.
On Thursday we planned to go to the pit lane walk. I remembered the tickets had sold out quickly in 2022, so I made sure to follow all the right accounts on social media. It was a smart decision, as we secured tickets before they sold out.
We decided to try the public transport option this year, since we didn’t enjoy waiting in taxi queues last time. On Thursday we wanted to take the bus which was advertised as going directly to Hungaroring.
After waiting in a line for 40 minutes in the sun, the bus arrived. Unfortunately people shoved ahead of us in the line and the bus was full before we could enter. Confusion and frustration grew among the people who had waited for so long. The bus driver didn’t let anyone else on and people tried to figure out how to get to the track since the next bus wouldn’t be for another two hours.
In the chaos of the queue we made a new friend, Jamie from the UK, who let us share his taxi! Despite the frustration of missing the bus, we were happy to meet someone new, and we hung out with Jamie at the circuit and even shared a taxi to the airport together.
During the pit lane walk, I noticed that if you ask nicely you might get lucky. Some really nice mechanics gave me the opportunity to take pictures in front of the garages of Alexander Albon and Esteban Ocon. You couldn’t wipe the smile from my face for the rest of the day!
Looking past the Thursday chaos, I think that it was much easier taking public transport to and from the circuit than by taxi. We opted to buy the Pest County Pass in the BudapestGO app, which gave us unlimited trips for a month. Instead of waiting to buy tickets at every stop we just scanned our tickets with the inspectors and could ride trains and buses back and forth with ease. To us it was worth the cost of about €25. The BudapestGO app was also easy to use when searching for trips and how to get around!
Comparing General Admission with the Bronze 1 grandstand is both easy and difficult. We were lucky this time, because we saw lots of action and crashes from our seats. We watched Tsunoda jump out of his car just in front of us, Leclerc went into the wall to our right and Perez into the wall to our left. It was almost non-stop action! Thanks to the chicane, the cars slow down so you can see them clearly, compared to the straights where they can be just a cloud of colors passing by. The seats and especially the backrests are very hard and uncomfortable and I wish I had brought something soft to sit on, but I forgot the pain as soon as the cars were on the track!
What I’ve learned from my second time at the Hungaroring is that I don’t think I’ll ever go back to taking the taxi (apart from on Thursday), you should bring something to sit on in the grandstand, and most importantly, be nice to everyone you meet. You never know what that will get you! Oh and don’t forget to bring your own toilet paper and wet wipes. You’ll be lucky to find any in the toilets.
Nicole from Scotland
I traveled from Scotland with two friends for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix. We flew from Aberdeen on Thursday morning, via Amsterdam, which was a very straight forward and reasonably-priced route. Returning home on Monday afternoon via Milan and Gatwick was a cheaper but more stressful route! We decided to book an apartment in the center of Budapest, on Vati Utca, for the three of us. The apartment was big enough, but we really only slept and showered there. The apartment’s location was perfect for public transport and also had plenty of shops and restaurants nearby.
Getting to the Hungaroring: We decided it was best to hire a car in the end, as opposed to relying on public transport. We wanted to have a little more freedom to come and go from the track as and when we pleased, as we had organized some tourist activities in the city. Picking the hire car up from the airport also meant we didn’t have to organize separate airport transfers.
We parked in a carpark in the center of the city, on Franklin Haz, around a 10-minute walk from our apartment, for around £28 per night. We managed to find our way to and from the track using Google maps and we used the extensive free parking at the track. We parked in a nearby field, which was around a 15-minute walk to Gate 7 (the nearest entrance for Gold grandstands). It never took us more than 30 minutes to leave the car park and get on the road after the race action had completed for the day.
Gold 1 Grandstand: We booked our race tickets separately, ending up with Gold 1 grandstand tickets. The view was great, almost all of the pre-race grid action, podium ceremonies, parc ferme and pit stops of Red Bull/Mercedes teams. We were right at the starting lights, catching the beginning and end of the race perfectly. Not the best seat for seeing as much racing as possible BUT the action around the racing, more than made up for this. The racing itself, we did actually see several overtakes on the pit straight, so all in all a great seat choice. We also enjoyed watching F2, F3 and the Porsche Supercup support series.
Trackside: Amenities around the gold grandstands were good, toilets were always kept clean and stocked up. There were plenty of different food and drink vendors to cater to all and whilst there were queues at peak times, we never had to wait longer than 15 minutes.
It was very hot this weekend, so we were thankful to have all the following essentials packed in our backpacks, which included a 1.5l water bottle to refill, cap, umbrella for shade when walking around outside the grandstand, SPF cream protection, wet wipes, tissues, hand sanitizer, small electric portable fan and a poncho.
After the race, we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Szechenyi Thermal baths, which were great after a long day at the track! We also enjoyed an evening cruise on the Danube River. Both experiences were booked via the Get Your Guide app.
All in all, it was a great weekend and I cannot wait to return to Budapest. I would absolutely recommend the Hungarian Grand Prix to anyone thinking about going. Having been to Austin and Silverstone, I was a big fan of the whole Hungarian experience.
Robert from Germany
I love to visit traditional circuits that remind me of my childhood. The Hungaroring is one such circuit, dating back to when I watched Michael Schumacher win here when I was a kid.
Arrival in Budapest: My dad and I drove about 7 hours from Southern Germany on Wednesday morning, arriving at our hotel in Budapest around lunch time. We spent the afternoon sightseeing in Budapest, ticking off the most important sights as well as taking a sunset boat cruise on the Danube (€10 per person via GetYourGuide). We spent Thursday morning in the city as well, before heading out to the track for the Pitlane Walk. Of course, we didn’t have the time to see all of Budapest’s sights, but that was fine for us. You could easily spend at least five days in Budapest and still not see everything!
Thursday Pitlane Walk: Thursday was pretty straightforward. We parked and picked up our wristbands without any issues. It was great to walk around the Fan Zone behind the Main Grandstand, check out our seats in Gold 4 and watch the Safety Car doing its high speed test.
It was very hot on Thursday and the sun was beating down. It was essential to wear a hat and sunscreen, and to have enough water. Once the Pitlane Walk started, we waited another 45 minutes in the grandstand and let most of the people run ahead. Nevertheless, I was a little disappointed with the organization, as well as the behavior of some “fans” who blocked some areas in the pit lane completely and were unwilling to move, even to let families with children to have a look at the garages of the top teams. I didn’t mind so much as I’ve seen the garages multiple times, but I can imagine it would have been a bad experience for many first-time visitors.
Super Gold Parking: For all three days, we parked in the dedicated Super Gold parking area. It was worth the additional cost (€110 for all three days), because of the short walking distance from the Fan Zone behind the Super Gold grandstands. My father is in his mid 60s and less walking in the heat is a good idea for older fans! Another reason to book Super Gold parking is that you can use the VIP Road on the M3 highway from Budapest, which is also used by teams and drivers, and offers a nice shortcut.
We had absolutely no issues and it took us just about 30 minutes from Budapest to the parking lot on all three days. We arrived at the Hungaroring on Friday and Saturday at 08:30 local time and on Sunday at 07:45 local time. We were well ahead of the masses and I would recommend everyone to arrive as early as you can!
On Friday, we left after the Porsche Supercup Practice (around 19:45 local time) and were back in our hotel within an hour, including a short pitstop at a supermarket. On Saturday we tried to depart about one hour after the end of qualifying, but nothing was moving in the carpark. We didn’t start moving until 19:30, and we were back in Budapest by 20:45, including a 30 minute dinner stop at McDonalds. I asked a staff member about the parking situation, but his English was not very good. My understanding was that they wanted to clear the other parking lots first before letting everyone in Super Gold to exit.
Learning from our experience on Saturday night, we decided to stay around a bit longer in the fan zone after the race on Sunday. After enjoying a drink and one last langos, we arrived at our car at 19:15. We were moving 15 minutes later and back at our hotel by 20:15. Unfortunately, many people in the parking lot were really angry about the delays, beeping their horns and yelling at staff members. I don’t know why these fans didn’t expect some delays when you have 100,000 people trying to leave the circuit at the same time! It takes time, the staff members are doing their best, but traffic jams are to be expected!
Gold 4 Grandstand: We chose to sit in the Gold 4 grandstand on the outside of Turn 1, which cost €425. I think this is probably the best grandstand at the Hungaroring, especially because T1 is the only real overtaking opportunity on the circuit. We saw all the race starts from the support categories, lots of overtakes, McLAren’s drivers following team orders to switch positions and even a ‘flying’ Red Bull. It was great to see a new winner on the top step of the podium. I am happy to have been there in person for Piastri’s first F1 sprint victory (in Qatar last year) and first proper F1 race win.
Positives: Friendly personnel & good signage around the circuit, ticket & bag checks at the gates were quick and efficient, the organizers allowed fans to bring in more water due to the heat (1.5 liters instead of 0.5 liters), you can bring your own food, free water stations are available, water (approx. €2) and soft drinks (approx. €3) were reasonably priced, cashless payments via credit card were accepted, grandstands were clean (and trash bags were located in the aisles), toilets were generally clean (mobile toilets in the Gold 4 area were in acceptable condition, even on Sunday) and trackside commentary was available in Hungarian, English & German.
Negatives: Poor food quality. Lots of food was cooked in the morning and stored in the counter for probably hours in 30+C heat and then reheated in a microwave before serving. I would not take any food from SFC-Grill stands. Some others were better. The food is totally overpriced. 15€ for a sandwich with shashlik or a plate with meat & peppers (tasted good and was fresh) is probably the most I have ever paid at a F1 race. On the other hand, the chicken & peppers plus the langos we had on Sunday after the race behind the Super Gold Grandstand was freshly made and quite good.
Overall, it was a great weekend with a lot of track action. We cannot complain too much about the trackside organization. It was easy to plan the trip with the help of the F1 Destinations travel guide and also the Facebook group. If I return in the future, I wouldn’t change much, except for skipping the pit lane walk on Thursday.
Emily from the USA
At this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, weekend attendance hit 310,000 while the temperature hit 97 Fahrenheit, making for a few sticky transit experiences. Sweat and sunburn aside, my weekend at the Hungaroring was a dream. It was my second Formula 1 race and first solo trip abroad, and I’d recommend the race – and Budapest – to first-timers and budget-minded travelers alike.
I attended the Austrian Grand Prix with a friend last year and had a good experience booking a ticket and hotel package through F1 Experiences, so I did the same this year, purchasing my Silver 2 grandstand ticket and seven nights in a Budapest hotel with F1 Experiences in December.
I booked a hotel in District V of Budapest, which is on the Pest side of the Danube and offers easy access to plenty of sights on foot. Transit within the city is easy and affordable. I downloaded the BudapestGo app and purchased 24-hour Budapest travel cards for 2,500 Hungarian Forint each, or about $7. The Uber-equivalent Bolt taxi app is also affordable. None of the rides I took within the city cost more than $8.
F1 Experiences offers circuit transfers with its ticket and hotel packages, but I opted to use public transport. Compared with the three-hour drive from Vienna to the Red Bull Ring, sixty-ninety minutes on trains and shuttles didn’t seem too bad to me.
Getting to the Hungaroring: Each morning, I walked from my hotel to the M2 metro line, swinging by the Ritz Carlton to linger briefly with a crowd of fans hoping to glimpse their favorite drivers heading off to the circuit. I rode the M2 line to its eastern end, alighting at Örs vezér tere and following the sea of Ferrari hats and Oranje Army shirts to the nearby suburban H8 trains.
Tickets for the H8 train heading toward Gödöllő can be bought from kiosks at the station. The kiosks are easy enough to figure out, and there are English-speaking attendants on hand to help. The trains were packed to the gills, making for a less-than-comfortable 45-minute standing journey from Budapest to Kerepes. At Kerepes, free shuttle buses arrived in rapid succession to whisk us to the circuit, dropping us at Gate 3.
Arriving at Gate 3 offered a beautiful hilltop view of the circuit. I brought a fanny-pack sized bag and was waved through each time, but backpacks and totes were searched. The entry process took about two minutes.
Between Gate 3 and the main straight were plenty of places to stop for good views of the track. There were concessions and activities in the Fanzone, as well as a stage where driver interviews were conducted throughout the weekend. Food and drink prices were comparable to the Red Bull Ring in Austria, though there was (thankfully) more variety. I paid $12 for beers, $15 for lángos, an essential Hungarian snack of the fried dough variety, $5 for a pretzel the size of a small dog, and $5 for countless ice cream bars across the weekend.
Silver 2 Grandstand: This is situated between the Red Bull grandstand and the covered Super Gold grandstand. (The Hungaroring is getting a facelift for 2025, so this configuration may be different next year.) The three-day ticket in my F1 Experiences package was $520, and my seat was right on the finish line, allowing me a clear view of parc ferme and the podium. I had an obstructed view of the garages but still enjoyed watching the Red Bull pit stops.
I could see drivers round Turn 14, barrel down the main straight and vanish into Turn 1. I didn’t witness much racing action on the main straight, but watching the lights go out at the start and seeing Oscar Piastri cross the finish line for his maiden win was well worth it for me.
I was in my seat for most of the Formula 1 sessions but bopped around to sample different vantage points during the Formula 2, Formula 3 and Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup events. My favorite part of the weekend was the build-up to the race on Sunday. I saw Lawrence Stroll chatting with Christian Horner; Fernando Alonso donning his helmet and sliding into his car and Gunther Steiner gesticulating into a TV camera. After the checkered flag, I watched thousands of fans pouring down from the hills onto the track, which was a delight in itself.
On Friday afternoon, I took a Bolt taxi back to Budapest with a pair of friendly Dutch women, which ran us 20,000 Forint, or about $55. On Saturday and Sunday I took public transport back to the city. Saturday’s journey benefited from the rain, which I assume sent some spectators home early. On Sunday, I waited in line for the shuttle bus for 90 minutes, then spent about 40 minutes on the shuttle in traffic, then another desperately hot 90 minutes on the suburban train from Gödöllő to Budapest. My final leg, the M2 within Budapest, was the fastest at 15 minutes. I spent those hours wondering how quickly I could have walked the 20 kilometers from the circuit to my hotel, and how much the helicopter transfer would have set me back! By the time I got back to my room it was after 9pm, but I was too dazzled by the day to feel antagonized by the long journey.
Exploring Budapest: I spent two days either side of the race weekend exploring Budapest. Highlights were my trips to the Hungarian State Opera (I got a ticket to see La Traviata on a whim for $130) and the famous Szechenyi thermal baths. I was definitely able to get my fill of culture and great food in Budapest at a reasonable price. I select my race destinations based on cities I’d like to visit as much as the circuits, but if you’re traveling just for the racing, you could visit the Hungarian Grand Prix on a much lower budget than many other races.
Emma from the UK
This was our first experience attending a Grand Prix and I felt somewhere between excited and nervous. Although I have followed Formula 1 for some time, being an autistic person, I was worried that the crowds, unfamiliar location and noise may be quite overwhelming. The largest crowds I had previously experienced were at football matches and concerts.
We stayed at the Mystery Hotel Budapest, which was about a 10 minute walk from a local metro station on the M3 line. We used this line, followed by the M2 metro, H8 train and shuttle buses to get to and from the track from Friday to Sunday. Unfortunately this option was not available to us on Thursday for the high speed test and pitlane walk.
Although crowded and far from luxurious, the trains and shuttle buses did their job each day. As long as you don’t mind getting sweaty with strangers, public transport was a good, budget friendly way to access the Hungaroring. Our queuing time leaving the track on Saturday & Sunday was around 90 minutes, which was followed by a longer transfer to a larger train station. The queue was generally well organized, though.
Unfortunately, as the shuttle buses were not running on Thursday, we opted to try and use the usual bus that goes to the track from the outskirts of the city. Due to the sold out nature of the event, we anticipated an increased service, but this was not the case. The bus only ran every two hours. We arrived in plenty of time, and waited in what we thought was a queue at the stop. When the bus arrived there was a massive crush to get on, and the bus quickly filled up. This left hundreds of people unable to travel, and no further buses for another two hours. We ended up getting a taxi to the track from the bus stop. If there is another high speed test at future events, I really do think there needs to be either dedicated public transport or an increased frequency of existing public transport options for fans to be able to easily attend.
High Speed Test & Pit Lane Walk: As an autistic person, the high speed test & pitlane walk gave me a good opportunity to familiarize myself with my surroundings for the next few days, and with less crowds, which alleviated some of my fears. The pitlane walk itself was extremely crowded, and at times felt extremely unsafe. Although plenty of trackside staff were around, they did not enforce the supposed one way system through the pit lane or move on fans that were blocking the area near the garages. This caused massive bottle necks and crushes, and as someone who is only 160cm tall, I couldn’t really see anything. I do think this needs to be better organized, and the flow of fans into the pitlane reduced to allow for a better experience.
Due to the increased heat during the event, the organizers allowed fans to bring in larger amounts of liquids, which was very welcome. The relentless heat and little shade (there’s only one covered grandstand at the Hungaroring), many fans were searching for some shade during the breaks between sessions. Hats & sunscreen were definitely the order of the day. Some independent water stations were available, but the majority were within toilet facilities, which increased queues, especially for the female toilets. Additional water stations would have been appreciated.
Overall, we enjoyed the race weekend immensely and we are already looking for future races to attend, though the increasing ticket prices make many events prohibitively expensive to attend. We definitely learned some lessons from our first F1 experience. Lanyards for your ticket are great so you don’t need to keep getting these from your bag, a good set of ear plugs are also very useful depending on your location, and particularly for someone who is autistic. It was also easier for me to bring my own food.
Mark from Ireland
I just traveled from Roscommon in Ireland to my first f1 race in Hungary. After doing some research, I decided to go for general admission tickets and booked an apartment in the center of Budapest. We flew on Thursday evening with Ryanair, took a taxi to our apartment and met up with friends who had arrived earlier. We had pre-booked the official Fotaxi for early Friday morning. The taxi arrived on time and off we went to the Hungaroring! We arrived at Gate 7 at 07:30 and checked out the food stalls. We found a great viewing area in the fan zone near Gate and settled in for the day. In fact, we stayed in the same spot all three days.
The positives I take away from my experience were the excellent traffic management plan (it never took us more than two hours from the track back to our apartment), the excellent medical assistance and fan welfare stations at the track, and the wide choice of food options at affordable prices. And what could be improved? Absolutely nothing! We had a great time at the Hungarian Grand Prix. It was well organized, easy to get around, made some great new friends and I got to see my F1 idol, Fernando Alonso.
