[3] Prior to the race, concerns were raised regarding Hungary's strict coronavirus restrictions, which include the threat of fines and imprisonment for personnel who do not comply.

[9] The first practice session was topped by Lewis Hamilton and then Valtteri Bottas, both of Mercedes, followed by Sergio Pérez and then Lance Stroll, both of Racing Point.

[11] Second practice was run in the wet and ended with Sebastian Vettel fastest for Ferrari ahead of Bottas and McLaren's Carlos Sainz Jr., in a session where only 13 drivers set a time.

Conversely, both Williams drivers (George Russell and Nicholas Latifi) managed to make it out of Q1, the first time the team had achieved this since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.

In Q2, the five drivers knocked out were Daniel Ricciardo, Russell, Alexander Albon, Esteban Ocon and Latifi - for the latter, the highest grid placement at that time in his career.

Lewis Hamilton took pole by over one-tenth of a second from his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, achieving the team's first front-row lockout of the season.

Racing Point managed to lock out the second row of the grid for the first time since their debut at the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix; the team was delighted with third for Lance Stroll and fourth for Sergio Pérez.

Like his teammate, Max Verstappen struggled in his Red Bull, and having been forecast prior to the race to be a possible contender for the win, only managed seventh, ahead of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr, both driving for McLaren with Gasly in tenth.

As the movement was so small, the sensors that determine a jumped start did not pick it up, and thus Bottas was not penalised by the stewards; however, he had damaged his own launch and consequently lost four places on the first lap.

By lap 25, the top 10 ran thus: Hamilton, Verstappen, Lance Stroll, Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean, Albon, Vettel, Sergio Pérez, and Daniel Ricciardo.

[18] Alexander Albon was also investigated by the stewards as it was believed that his team was illegally drying the track around his grid spot prior to the race but was not punished as no evidence for the claims was found.