The Friday in F1 Hungarian GP was hot weather wise and saw some disruptions, with the field still closely bunched at the top.
It was hot at Hungaroring on Friday of F1 Hungarian GP weekend. After heavy rain on Wednesday and Thursday, it was mostly dry and extensively hot which the drivers are worried about for Sunday in the race trim.
The hot conditions made things a bit tricky for drivers where several did have off moments. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had the biggest after he ran over the kerb and rammed into the barrier to cause a red flag in FP2, which ended his session early.
Ferrari showed good pace overall, but were undone by the incident slightly, although Carlos Sainz ran his full programme. There was another incident escaped by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who took evasive action when Stake F1 Team’s Zhou Guanyu came by him.
It happened at the same corner after the red flag where Guanyu managed to save it. The Mexican had a better run from FP1 to FP2, with teammate Max Verstappen too optimistic about their pace after bringing in extensive updates at the weekend.
While Red Bull and Ferrari showed better pace, McLaren too had a decent run with Lando Norris, who topped FP2. Teammate Oscar Piastri damaged his floor after a gravel run, but felt good in the car. Both Mercedes and Aston Martin struggled slightly.
The hot conditions caught out Lewis Hamilton, who did not enjoy his Friday. Teammate George Russell was in a better place though. As for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, both were not hugely happy with the car, even though they hovered around the Top 10.
Verstappen: “I think we had a good day with it, of course there’s still a lot to learn and optimise. But I think it was a solid start to the weekend, and now we’ll try to look into the details to try and make it a bit better. Also FP2 was a bit interrupted, so we didn’t get the full long runs in like we wanted to – of course it was the same for everyone but, yeah, we’ll look into things. I think it wasn’t a bad start to the weekend and, yeah, [we’ll] work from there. I don’t know. We’ll just go with the flow and see what happens.”
Perez: “I think we did a really good step from practice one to the afternoon. We took the right changes, the right direction and, yeah, feeling good. I think also the long run looked promising so, yeah, let’s see what the rest of the weekend throws at us. I think yes. I think it’s been a very good Friday, especially with the direction we took with the steps we made through the day. That’s the best we can do and that’s what really matters, so that’s been really positive.
“I think [we’ve been] just really trying to dial up the set-up from… there’s still a bit of a miscorrelation in the simulator that we’re working on, to start the weekend a lot closer. But, yeah, at the end of the day it’s a question of putting everything together at the right time, and our time will come, so head down for now and [we’ll] look forwards for tomorrow. I knew he was coming so I moved out of the way, and when I saw him spinning I had to go to the left quite quickly to avoid him, and luckily I managed to avoid him and didn’t have any damage so that was good,” the Red Bull driver commented on the incident.”
Norris: “I feel like we have the speed in the car, it’s just being able to deliver it when you need to. You can have a fast car that’s easy to drive – that’s an ideal world – or you can have, more often than not, a fast car which is a little bit more on the edge and a little bit more difficult, and it’s about playing around with the balance of where you want to sit. A lot of that is just down to driver preference and so forth. It felt good today, but definitely there’s a little bit more from a comfort side that I would like so I can deliver a little bit more than just one lap a day.”
Hamilton: “The car felt just as bad as it does normally when it’s hot. Today’s not been a good day really, apart from the weather’s been good and it’s been nice to be here but we’ve not really been on form today so the car hasn’t felt good set-up wise. But I think we have an idea why and we’ll just work overnight – but not the best prep so far.”
Leclerc: “The car feels pretty good so far and we had a more consistent day compared to the past few weekends. I ran a bit wide in turn 4 and lost the car on the kerb, which thankfully did not cause too much damage, but enough for my session to be over. We will focus on recovering the mileage we missed out on in FP3 tomorrow.”
Alonso: “It’s always nice to be back here. It’s a very unique circuit that gives you no time to breathe, one corner after the other. It’s also been very hot today, so the conditions have been tough for mechanics and everyone in the grandstands. The tyre degradation with these temperatures and this track is quite high and extreme, so we will have to keep an eye on that. In general, it’s been a good day, and we need to learn more from the car and analyse all of the data tonight. We’ll have to nail everything and look to do our best on Saturday. It’s going to be difficult to overtake in the race, so Qualifying will be important.”
It was not the end Stake F1 Team’s Guanyu expected after a solid FP1 outing. The Chinese racer’s spin in FP2 did not help but both he and Valtteri Bottas seem optimistic about fighting for Top 10, as were the Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.
The Dane made it inside the Top 10 in FP2, while the German had to do extra work after Oliver Bearman got another FP1 chance. Williams pair of Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant were pleased by the progress from FP1 to FP2. But Visa Cash App RB and Alpine pair had difficulties, leaving them much to do to recover.
Guanyu: “The car felt pretty good straight out of the box today; I still want to be cautious, as it is only Friday, but it does feel like we are in a much better position compared to previous weekends. This could allow us to challenge our rivals in qualifying and fight for a top ten finish on Sunday if we have a good race. Everything worked out smoothly this morning, and this afternoon my lap time could have been worthy of P10 if I hadn’t had that moment in Turn Four. Overall, it’s safe to say we have had a couple of positive sessions so far, especially considering the way our testing programme was structured. This track definitely suits our car a little bit better, with its medium-speed corners and smooth surface: still, there is some work to do overnight, but we are going in the right direction.”
Magnussen: “In FP1 we weren’t very quick but we seemed to pick up the pace for FP2. The track was slightly cooler so maybe that had an impact – I’m not sure – but we were a lot more competitive and hopefully we can keep that for tomorrow. We’re doing our thing, it’s been going well lately, and we want to keep it going. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t keep the form however the field is so tight that one weekend you’re going to be up there and another weekend perhaps not. We’ve got to make the best of it when we have the pace to score points.”
Tsunoda: “Generally, it was a good day for us as a team and started well in FP1. The disrupted FP2 on track and issues on my car meant our run plan slightly changed in the afternoon, and while everyone was doing their long run I struggled to have a clean lap. Overall, the team showed some strong performance, like in the first races, so the energy is positive.”
Albon: “I’m happy with the sessions today; there’s definitely work to do as we’ve experimented a lot between FP1 and FP2, so we need to go through the data and work out which bits worked and eliminate those that didn’t. There’s more potential in the car but I’ll be surprised if we stay where we are but it’s a positive start. Our long pace is looking good and there is still more for us to learn from the data, so we’ll go away and do our homework tonight.”
Gasly: “It is great to be back in Hungary, although, on our side today, it has been a challenging start to the weekend. Obviously, the high temperatures here are quite tough to contend with and the car did not feel great today. There is lots for us to work on overnight in terms of car balance and set up, so of course, the simulator work back at base tonight will be important. We are still yet to find the car’s sweet spot at this track. There’s more to come from us and hopefully we can put our learnings into practice ahead of tomorrow and be in better shape.”
Bearman: “It’s always good fun being back in the car for FP1 with the team. They were very interesting conditions, the hottest track I’ve ever experienced, and that made it quite tough from inside the car, and not just for me, but for the tyres as well. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and can’t wait for the next one although that’s a long time away.”
Here’s how FP1 in F1 Hungarian GP panned out
Here’s how FP2 in F1 Hungarian GP panned out
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