The true test of Mercedes’ return to form? Six Hungarian GP talking points · RaceFans

Mercedes have always gone well at the Hungaroring but their performance in Sunday’s race will be a revealing test of the progress they have made with their W15.

Meanwhile Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez head into this weekend’s race hoping for a change in fortunes and more movement in the driver market for 2025 is expected. Here are the talking points for the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

Mercedes’ real test?

Suddenly, Mercedes are back. The Brackley team won the last two races in a row and appear to have thrust themselves among the championship contenders.

But have they truly addressed all the W15’s weaknesses? Their greatest disadvantage prior to last weekend was their performance over a race stint and it remains to be seen whether they have addressed that.

“Hungary is probably… the test of whether or not we have got on top of our long-run performance in hot conditions, because in Barcelona and in Austria, we couldn’t match Lando or Max on the long run,” the team’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin told the official F1 channel. “Both those two cars were well ahead of us.

“We hopefully will have made a bit of progress. If you look at the size of the gap at those two previous races, I’d be surprised if we can pull it in that significantly. But then again, we you know, we surprised ourselves with the first stint in Silverstone.”

Mercedes have good form at the Hungaroring, however. Despite their struggles since the current technical regulations were introduced, they claimed pole position for both the last two races at this track, which were their only poles from conventional qualifying sessions during those seasons.

Then there is the Hamilton factor. With his confidence re-fired after ending a two-and-a-half year losing streak, he now heads to a track where he has always excelled.

“I love Hungary,” he said after his Silverstone win. “So I definitely am really looking forward to that, to go in there. The trajectory we’re on and the fact the car is starting to really come alive and feel great, now I can start to compete is a great feeling.”

Will Leclerc’s “nightmare” continue?

Charles Leclerc may have ended his ‘Monaco curse’, but little has gone right for him in the four races since then. Power unit trouble in Montreal, front wing damage in Spielberg, duff strategy at Silverstone.

But underlying all that has…