Lewis Hamilton expects Red Bull to challenge Mercedes in Hungary

Over the course of the season Red Bull has slowly mounted a challenge to Mercedes scoring 144 points compared to the latter's 178 from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards.

The twisty nature of the Hungaroring is expected to suit Red Bull, which won there with Daniel Ricciardo in 2014, with the Australian and Daniil Kvyat third and second respectively behind Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel last year.

Hamilton said: "As far as I'm aware here it's a downforce and drag-sensitive circuit.

"We believe Red Bull design their car to a higher-spec of downforce than we do, because it's not really needed in most places. Maybe Ferrari also.

"So this is a definitely a track where we believe the gap will be very close, which is great for racing, so game on."

Ricciardo feels a podium is possible on Sunday and team-mate Max Verstappen is also convinced Red Bull can push Mercedes.

"Our best chance was in Monaco, but here as well the car can be very strong," said Verstappen.

"I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend because so far the car has been very strong, even on tracks where we didn't expect it to be that strong.

"It's all about the set-up now, how we can improve during the sessions. Hopefully we can be pretty close."

Although McLaren is "not going to be fighting at the front", Jenson Button feels the scene is set for Red Bull to give Mercedes a run for its money.

"It's a good circuit for Red Bull, they have a good chance of winning here," said Button.

"That's great, a bit of a mix-up. That excites everyone that watches Formula 1.

"If they all finish you're going to have two Red Bulls, two Ferraris, two Mercedes then Force India as well. That's eight cars. And Toro Rosso.

"We'll be fighting just inside the top 10 if we have a good weekend."