Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, said the ongoing upgrade of the Hungaroring race track is set to cost less than the hosting fee discount Hungary negotiated last year for the extension of the track’s contract to host the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix.
Gulyás said the Hungarian state will save 107 billion forints (EUR 276.2m) with the hosting fee discount negotiated with F1’s commercial rights holder for the contract extension until 2032. The public procurement to upgrade the Hungaroring’s infrastructure, primarily the paddock, by 2026 was won by a 78.9 billion forint bid, Gulyás noted. So far, 12 billion forints has been paid out, and the upgrade is currently in its second phase, he said, adding that a total of 9,000 people will be working at the track over the course of the project. Hungaroring Sport chairman and chief executive Zsolt Gyulay said the paddock will be expanded by 3,000 square metres to 8,300sqm, while the paddock building’s floor area will increase to 31,017sqm, explaining that the pit lane also has to be extended to comply with the FIA’s regulations.