What the teams said – Friday in Hungary

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Leclerc was fastest in the opening session for Ferrari by quite come margin, nearly half a second quicker than Verstappen. It was not trouble-free for the Monegasque racer though, as he parked in the pit lane late on with an issue. As for Hamilton, he nearly spun out of the final corner early on, and then complained about his gear shifts. But he was much happier in the second session, coming out on top and beating his team mate by over a tenth. Leclerc ran him close, with those two head and shoulders ahead of the rest at the moment. Charles Leclerc - FP1: 1:19.075, P1; FP2: 1:18.877, P2 "Our overall performance seems to be quite good, which is a positive. There is still a long way to go this weekend, so we have to be on it and work hard to make sure we stay on top tomorrow. "It’s going to be tight in qualifying. I don’t expect us to see the same gap that we saw to our competitors today, so we will have to do a perfect job. If the feeling in the car is there, I’m sure we will have a good one." Lewis Hamilton - FP1: 1:19.618, P3; FP2: 1:18.729, P1 "It was a solid day overall. The conditions were quite challenging, with the wind making things a bit tricky and the track feeling quite bumpy in some places. The car felt better in FP2 and we made some good progress between the sessions, although there are still a few areas we need to improve. We'll go through all the data overnight, keep working on the balance and hopefully find a bit more performance for tomorrow." 0/2Next imageRed Bull It was a good opening hour for Red Bull in terms of lap time, less so in terms of incidents. Verstappen was baulked by Sainz early on whilst on a hot lap, and retaliated by pulling in front of the Spaniard and slowing. That earned him a trip to the stewards, who opted to take no further action. Hadjar at least had a quieter FP1, running aero rakes early on and finishing in the top four. It was much of the same for the team in the second session, Verstappen slightly the faster of the two, with both in the mix heading into the weekend proper. The only small incident was Verstappen hitting some debris, but he was able to continue running. Max Verstappen - FP1: 1:19.559, P2; FP2: 1:19.421, P4 “It was a bit difficult to find a good balance in the car today. We just need to try to tidy that up a little bit and make sure we can get a good lap out of the car for Qualifying and then for the long runs as well. We will need to look into what we can do overnight and how we can find more performance in the car. We will analyse everything with the team and see if we can make some positive changes. Hopefully, that will help us find some improvements going into FP3 and Qualifying tomorrow."  Isack Hadjar - FP1: 1:19.997, P4; FP2: 1:19.800, P6 “It was a tricky one today. The conditions were tough on the car out there, particularly in FP2 when the wind picked up quite a lot. The car we had in FP1 was good, and in the long run the pace was there, but after making changes for FP2, the conditions ramped up and it made it difficult to get a solid read on the data. The car is there, but the Ferraris are very strong around here, so we’ve got some lap time to find overnight. We have a good idea where we can improve, and hopefully we can make a few changes to take a step forward tomorrow."  Pierre Wache, Technical Director “A more challenging day today. The grip is very low, it’s dusty and very bumpy. The massive change in the wind in the afternoon made it even more complicated and it was a tough session for the drivers. We have to run the car quite stiff here and that leads to a similar feeling to the ground effect cars of the last generation. The drivers were not happy with the balance, we are not where we want to be yet and it’s clear that we are not yet quick enough. When the cars are on the edge, like they are for everyone, then the smallest perturbation can upset things. On a more positive note, we ran the new iteration of the rear wing here all day without any issue.   "We have a lot of work to do tonight, but we already know where we can improve. We will go step by step and see where we get to tomorrow in FP3. I think the wind will once again make things challenging for everyone, so adapting to the conditions will be key."  0/2Next imageMcLaren Norris took part in FP1 but he did not get a representative lap time on the softs after running wide through Turn 11. He was partnered by Fornaroli, who had a tidy session in the other McLaren. With the team running their new rear wing, the rookie got a taste of it in FP1 and Norris then had that in FP2. This time around he did set a representative lap time and looked quick, winding up a very decent third. Piastri took a little longer to get going, ran wide and was a little bit further back, so he needs to assess the data and see where the discrepancies are overnight. Lando Norris - FP1: 1:21.024, P11; FP2: 1:19.228, P3 “A tricky day, not the easiest two sessions for us. While we took a step forward this afternoon, we've still got some work to do. We've introduced some new bits on the car today, and we need to understand those a bit better and how we can get them dialled in. We know we're not going to catch the guys ahead immediately, so we need to keep working hard, but we're making steps in the right direction in a few areas. We'll work hard overnight to get more out of this package and see what we can do tomorrow.” Oscar Piastri - FP2: 1:20.101, P8 “It was a very challenging session for us. The track conditions were difficult with the high winds, and the newer sections of the circuit are quite worn with very low grip, which made finding a rhythm tough. Only running for one session today meant it took a little more for me to get into FP2, but thank you to Leo for his support this morning. We gathered as much data as we could under the circumstances and will work this evening and into FP3 tomorrow to find improvements. “The new parts seem to be working as expected on Lando's car, and I'm looking forward to having them on mine tomorrow. The Ferraris look strong, but we feel we are in the mix. If we can put everything together and execute a clean Quali, we believe there is a good opportunity to make a lot of progress and be in the fight for a strong result.” Leonardo Fornaroli - FP1: 1:21.890, P16 “It was a good session in the MCL40. We got 29 laps in, and I found a good rhythm quickly after a month out of the car. Our pace on the Medium was strong from the first laps, but I had a lock up on the Soft run - this is a learning point for me. We also ran the rotational rear wing, and it worked as intended, which is encouraging for the team. “Overall, I’m happy with how today went and the team’s positive feedback. I learned a lot and was able to gather a lot of valuable data and support with the setup of the car for Oscar, which was my main focus. Thank you again to the team for the opportunity.” Randy Singh, Senior Director, Racing “Overall, it has been an intense day for the McLaren Mastercard Team. The most positive takeaway from our running is that every new component we brought to the track performed as we expected. The drivers all did a fantastic job in what were very difficult conditions on track, especially with the wind, and we gathered a lot of useful data. Lando ran the new package all day, with Oscar running the old specification floor in his only session to facilitate our comparative work. Leonardo Fornaroli also played a big part in that during FP1, and his diligent work has been really valuable for our programme and future development. We have a solid foundation and feel we have taken a good step in the right direction. “We remain realistic about our position. The gap to the front has been significant in recent races, and we always knew we weren’t going to close that in one go. However, the signs are encouraging, and this progress gives us confidence that our development path is the correct one. We are reasonably positive and look forward to seeing where we stand in Qualifying on Saturday.” 0/3Next imageMercedes Antonelli sat out FP1 for Vesti, who had a composed session and wound up a credible four tenths back on Russell. Speaking of Russell, he had a slightly scrappy first flying lap and locked up on his second attempt, so left some time out there in FP1. Interestingly, Russell did not manage much more in FP2, still struggling for grip around the Hungaroring. Antonelli’s first session did not go to plan either, as he repeatedly locked up and ran wide too. That led to a fair few complaints over the radio, with the Silver Arrows left scratching their heads overnight to see where they can find some more pace. Kimi Antonelli - FP2: 1:20.693, P13 "That was a tricky first day here in Budapest and that was likely true for everyone. I sat out FP1 with Fred doing a good job in the car; when I got in the cockpit for FP2, I was struggling with the balance. That was more obvious with our single lap work. I had to abandon my first effort due to the red flag but tried to put a time together once the session resumed. I didn’t finish that lap as I had traffic and then was struggling with the rears locking. "The long run was better, and I think we had the tyres in a better window. We also have lots of data and learnings we can take from today which we will work through overnight. I am looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow. FP3 will be an important hour so we can hopefully get the car in a better place and try and get ourselves in the fight for pole position. We know it won’t be easy with the gap we saw today but we will give it our best." George Russell - FP1: 1:20.066, P5; FP2: 1:19.662, P5 "It was a strange day out there and I think that was true for everybody up and down the field. The Hungaroring is an amazing track to drive but the resurfacing of the track made things quite challenging today. It was quite bumpy in places, and we were struggling with the ride. It also had an impact on tyre degradation which was higher than expected. "Our single lap pace didn’t look great, but our long run looked more competitive. The Ferraris look very strong though and they will be hard to beat this weekend. We thought that would be the case coming into the weekend and so it’s proved up to this point. They are a good step ahead of everyone so we will have to work hard overnight if we are to close that gap." "It was great to be back in the W17 having driven the car last in Barcelona. It was a positive session on my side. I felt comfortable in the car, worked through our programme and completed all our work. I felt there was more time to come on the single lap but that is obviously not our key focus. The more important thing is that we learnt a lot and that will be useful both for our work this weekend but also for correlation with the simulator and wind tunnel at the factory back in Brackley. "I’m now looking forward to helping George, Kimi, and the team over the rest of the weekend here in Hungary. We’ve got work to do to get ourselves in the fight for victory and will be putting in the effort to do that. After that, we will be back in the simulator next week to connect our work from here at the track with what we are doing back there." Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director "Fred had a really strong second outing in the W17 today. It's difficult going months without driving the actual car to suddenly being expected to perform with just a few laps to get into it but P7 overall was a very solid result. "It was not a straightforward day today though. We didn't have the car in the right window to start FP1. The rear grip was poor and that issue was getting worse as the lap went on. We took a wrong step on our first attempt to reposition the car balance but found a bit of a direction for the long run towards the end of the session. "Going into FP2, we made some rather large changes to the mechanical setup and whilst we still had too much front end, with successive adjustments we managed to get it in a better window. Similarly to FP1, the long run looked good which is encouraging, but we've clearly got to find some pace on the single lap. We've already started work on that; it's probably been our toughest Friday of the year for low fuel pace but we've managed to get the W17 working well in that regard at all other tracks so hopefully we can manage that tomorrow." 0/3Next imageRacing Bulls Lawson is now running the latest upgrades, to bring his car in line with his team mate Lindblad. Both were quick in FP1, finishing in the top 10 – but they were jumped by Audi in that session. Lawson then was the fastest midfield runner in the latter session, winding up a few places and two tenths ahead of his team mate. Once again, Audi were their nearest competitors, so it looks like a fun fight is brewing between those two teams for Q3 berths tomorrow. Arvid Lindblad - FP1: 1:20.760, P9; FP2: 1:20.253, P10 “I think today was pretty decent overall. There are still a few things to work on, but we’re not in a bad place. On my side, there are a couple of areas I need to improve ahead of Qualifying, but we’ve got a clear direction for tomorrow. We expected Audi to be a step ahead this weekend as this circuit suits their car well, so we knew it would be more challenging than the last few races. That said, we’ve been competitive here before, and if we execute everything well in qualifying, I think Q3 is definitely wi thin reach.” Liam Lawson - FP1: 1:20.866, P10; FP2: 1:20.041, P7 “I'm feeling good having wrapped up Friday here in Budapest. The car seems pretty quick, however it's a very challenging track, so can be difficult to put a lap together. We'll be working on making the necessary changes overnight in order to give ourselves the best possible chance to reach Q3 in Qualifying. I really enjoy racing at the Hungaroring, so I'm excited to get back out there tomorrow." “It’s not been as straight forward for us today compared to the last couple of races; the car was quite tricky in FP1 and we made more changes than we normally would in-between sessions, but we got on top of things for FP2. As ever here, things close up, wi th the shorter lap. There's a lot of medium speed, which we’re focusing on and making sure we’ve got a stable car on entries with good traction in the last sector, which is especially important. Liam made a change for the final lap on softs today and that worked well, helping the rear end. It’s difficult to know exactly where we sit performance-wise but it looks like we are in decent shape and will refine things further in FP3." 0/2Next imageAudi Audi brought both cars back into the pits early in FP1, seemingly with an issue. But any fears of reliability concerns proved unfounded, as they sent both back out quite swiftly. On the soft tyres, the car looked very quick, with Bortoleto shading his team mate as they wound up at the top of the midfield. They were not too much further back in FP2, Hulkenberg this time the pick of the duo. All of which bodes very well for Audi who are chasing a third straight points finish. Nico Hulkenberg - FP1: 1:20.623, P8; FP2: 1:20.125, P9 "It was a fairly straightforward Friday. We worked our way through the different tyre compounds, learned a bit more about the balance and made some progress with the setup between the two sessions. Overall, I'd say it was a decent day. As expected, the midfield is incredibly close again, so every little detail is going to make a difference tomorrow. There's still plenty to play for, and we'll look to put everything together in qualifying." Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:20.360, P6; FP2: 1:20.474, P11 “It was a positive day overall. We collected a lot of useful data, even if FP2 was a bit more difficult, especially on the soft tyre. The wind made the conditions quite challenging, so we have a few things to work on overnight. The field is very tight as always, but if we can put everything together, I think we can have a good day tomorrow.” 0/2Next imageHaas Hirakawa was in for Bearman in the opening practice session, and kept his outing clean and tidy. Ocon put his car near the top 10 in an encouraging start for the team, and was in the same position in the second session. That bodes well for Haas, whose weaknesses perhaps are neutralised by the track characteristics. Bearman only had the one hour of action, and had a steady session as he started to get to grips with the Hungaroring. Esteban Ocon – FP1: 1:21.051, P12; FP2: 1:20.557, P12 “It's been a much better Friday compared to what we had in Spa, the car felt much better. Lately, we've had a lot of difficulties, but we didn't face any today, so it's been very positive. There's a lot of things that we had on the car that we've been waiting a long time for. It's only Friday, so we need to keep that for tomorrow, as we know things can change from one day to another, so we'll try and keep what we have today. Hopefully it'll be a similar level of happiness and performance tomorrow. For me, it's been the best Friday for a long time.” Oliver Bearman - FP2: 1:20.950, P15 “Today’s been tough, I struggled a lot with the feeling of the car, especially compared to last week. I basically lost all the confidence that I had gained in the last race, so it's been a really tough day. We've got a lot to analyse and improve for tomorrow.” Ryo Hirakawa - FP1: 1:22.001, P17 “It was nice to be back in the car today. I started with some aero testing, but it was less than the previous FP1 session, so I had more laps to run the car on track. The conditions were tricky and the car was a bit difficult to handle. I put some lap times in at the end, but had to abort a couple with traffic, so it was a bit tricky – but I was finally able to do a proper lap to use the tyre, so I'm happy about that.” “It's been a mixed Friday. Esteban had a very good day, he built it up very well in both FP1 and FP2 and he was happy with the car. It was similar to where he got to in FP2 at Spa, so the car has done a good job and Esteban has gained confidence from the consistency. The issue is on the other side of the garage – when Ollie jumped in, he wasn't happy with the car. Many of the components are the same from Spa, however certain components are different, but the feeling in the car is very different for Ollie. We've had this with Esteban before, going from Friday to Saturday in Spa, so we continue to have this consistency issue that we haven't got to the bottom of. That's the main thing we're tackling. “You can see from Esteban's performance that this is what he can deliver when he's happy with the car, and it’s the same with Ollie, as we know what he can deliver when he's happy. Overnight our focus is to really pinpoint what's going on with Ollie's car and get that to a good standard tomorrow. On Esteban's car we need to make sure we don't have a repeat from Spa where we lost performance somewhere, but unfortunately we still don't know why. We're trying to be really careful with everything we do with Esteban's car tonight so that when he drives in FP3 tomorrow he gets the car he had today.” 0/3Next imageAlpine Aron was in for Colapinto in FP1, and he nearly came a cropper through the final corner where grip was at a premium. Other than that, he had an okay hour before handing the cockpit back to Colapinto. But the Argentine racer could not say the same thing, as he spun out at the final corner himself and hit the barriers to end his session. That leaves him very short of laps heading into the weekend. Gasly gathered some good data for the team, but he complained about how his car felt in FP2 and was not as near to the top 10 as he would have liked. Pierre Gasly - FP1: 1:21.704, P14; FP2: 1:20.816, P14 “Today was one of the tougher Fridays we have experienced so far this year as a team. We knew this would be a challenging circuit for us, as it is more biased and favourable towards downforce where we know we lack at the moment compared to others. We were generally struggling with grip and the balance of the car is not where we would like it to be. We know we have improvements coming after the summer break, however I think it's more the feeling of the car at the moment which we need to improve and extract more from. It was particularly windy today and we had very low grip, so it feels like we certainly haven't found the optimum window yet. We will be looking tonight at what we can improve for tomorrow and hopefully be in a much better place for Qualifying.” Franco Colapinto - FP2: 1:22.105, P21 “It was a pretty short day for us. I think the cars this year, with the low downforce, are more tricky to drive and at a track like this with very low grip it is quite difficult. Of course, we didn't take part in the morning session. In FP2, I lost the rear in the last corner and hit the rear of the car into the tyres. Not a good day and not an ideal start to the weekend. I lost quite a lot of track time, so trying to focus now on the things we can learn and try to improve on. We don't have a lot of data, but we can still work on it and try and put the car in a better window for tomorrow.” “It was an intriguing day and a hard one to read given the conditions. Looking at my session, and the day as a whole, it's been one of the most difficult days all year on track for all the drivers and the teams. The conditions were really hard and one we had to quickly adjust to. I felt the difference as well from the previous two FP1 sessions I've done so far this year. I had a big lock-up on the Medium tyre which didn't make my running easy but generally it was a good day. It was my first time in the A526, and I was shown lots of information to prepare for the sessions. It was a good experience, and I gave the team as much feedback as possible and comparisons, but the conditions were also a bit extreme. It was fun to drive and be behind the wheel again, and I'd be happy to be back as soon as possible.” Dave Greenwood, Racing Director “Overall, it was a tricky day on track with conditions not easy or favourable for anyone, particularly while trying to test items and finding the optimum set up for the weekend. We know this track can be relatively dirty and low on grip on the first day of running, so we should see performance ramp up tomorrow and across the weekend. We haven't got the car in a balanced window that we're happy with yet on either car and the drivers have fed that back. Pierre and Franco gave similar feedback, and Paul did a good job in the morning, so we'll digest the data overnight and hopefully see some improvement in FP3. We have shown in recent weekends that by Sunday when things truly matter the race pace is there. We know we need to improve on our single lap pace but it's proving to be a challenge and we're working hard to rectify that. Thankfully Franco was OK after his off in the afternoon. He got caught out by the wind and difficult conditions and didn't have the benefit of the morning session to get used to them. He was on a really good lap up until that point and was on course to set a competitive time relative to those around us. We'll make sure the team gets the car back together and he'll bounce back in the morning and get more laps under his belt.” 0/3Next imageAston Martin Aston Martin’s big upgrade package broke cover in Budapest, and initially looked good with the drivers sitting around P13 on the hard tyre. Which was positive, given some cars behind were on mediums. Alonso wound up in exactly that position on the softs too, which is progress. But Stroll spun and had to park up with a suspected rear suspension failure. That could not be fixed in time for the Canadian to take part in FP2, which leaves him and his team short on laps and data. Alonso at least completed the session, running plenty of flow-vis paint as the team began to learn what they could of their new car. Fernando Alonso - FP1: 1:21.550, P13; FP2: 1:21.348, P19 Lance Stroll - FP1: 1:23.471, P21; FP2: No time set, P22 "It felt better today and more or less what we expected with our new package. This correlation shows things are working properly and we can take positives from that. "It's the first step for us and there are more to come over the next few races. We're trying to understand the new parts and there is more potential to unlock overnight in the car setup." Pedro de la Rosa, Team Ambassador said: "It's been a promising first day with the upgrade package, and the initial signs are encouraging despite losing valuable track time on Lance's car due to a suspension failure. "The data we've gathered so far is broadly in line with our expectations, which gives us a solid foundation to build on overnight. "It's only the first step, but it's a positive start and gives us a good platform to build on for the rest of the weekend." 0/2Next imageWilliams Sainz had a very busy FP1 session, locking up heavily at Turn 1 and nearly hitting the barriers. When he was on the track itself, he got into hot water twice – both for driving erratically, once with Verstappen and once with Aron. He got away with a warning from the stewards. As for Albon, he also locked up as Williams seemed to encounter a few braking issues. The Thai driver had a big snap in FP2 but managed to hold his car on track, but Williams seemed to struggle for pace and might be hoping conditions come back towards them tomorrow, lest they face down a potential Q1 exit. Alex Albon - FP1: 1:21.819, P15; FP2: 1:20.973, P16 “It was tough conditions out there today. We made some good steps forward between sessions and our low-fuel pace looks reasonable, but between the temperature and the tarmac, it's hard to separate what's setup-related and what's due to the change in conditions. Aston have made a big step this weekend - they're the ones we need to try to beat, and that's going to make Q1 challenging. We've still got some work to do overnight to maximise the opportunities tomorrow.” Carlos Sainz - FP1: 1:23.734, P22; FP2: 1:21.426, P17 “Tricky Friday in Hungary as expected. This track exposes our main weaknesses, and we are struggling to find the right balance in the car. We’ll use the weekend to explore different setup directions and see how we can improve at tracks like this where we know we’re lacking. The rest of this weekend will be about collecting valuable data and extracting as much performance as we can from this package.” Richard Frith, Head of Performance Systems “A productive day today, with a lot of the usual challenges that come with this track. The wind always makes things difficult here and tyre management is a key focus. Getting rear-end stability through the high-speed corners is tricky, and it's hard to stop the rear tyres overheating while still getting the front tyres into a good window, so it’s something we’re working to find a good compromise on. That said, we were more consistent today than we were at Spa, and we made good progress within the session. There's still a bit to do tonight and time left on the table before qualifying. Aston Martin's upgrades add an extra challenge for us tomorrow, so we'll be going through the data carefully, particularly looking at the floor tests we ran on Carlos’ car to see if there's anything more we can find overnight." 0/2Next imageCadillac Cadillac had a steady opening session, with no real issues. Herta was in for Bottas and had a clean hour as he continues to try and impress the team. When Bottas returned to the fray, the Finn looked fast and got the beating of his team mate as he continued his fine form from Spa. With no obvious reliability issues, it was a solid opening day for the American team. Valtteri Bottas - FP1: FP2: 1:21.442, P18 “It’s good to be back in Budapest; it’s a fun track to drive. We started FP2 with quite a challenging balance, but we made good progress throughout the session and managed to calm the car down. By the end, I was relatively happy with both the low-fuel runs and the high-fuel running, and the car was feeling quite consistent. We have a good base to build on for tomorrow and it looks like we’re going to be in the mix again, very close to the midfield. I’m confident we can do something tomorrow.” Sergio Perez - FP1: 1:22.089, P18; FP2: 1:21.792, P20 “It was an interesting day overall. The track conditions evolved quite a bit, particularly with the wind in FP2, which allowed us to explore different directions with the car. I think we have a good understanding of what we need to do with the balance for tomorrow. Now the focus is on putting everything together for Qualifying.” Colton Herta – FP1: 1:23.118, P20 “It’s been very enjoyable to be able to drive the car again and work with everyone in the team. We got through everything in our run plan during the session with a lot learned on a personal level and for the team. I’ve been able to build on my understating of the characteristics of the car since my last outing in Barcelona. I feel more comfortable in the car every time I drive it, which is positive. I can't wait for the next one.” “Track evolution and gusty winds were both factors today as we worked through our program. We’ve focused on ride and balance, and we made good progress throughout the day. We also managed to get some decent long running in FP2 that has provided very useful information for race day. It was great to have Colton back in the car for FP1 and he has again done a really good job for the team, delivering everything that we asked of him.” 0/3Next imagePirelli Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer “We will get a clearer picture tomorrow once the teams have completed their analysis of today’s data, but the indications from the opening two hours of free practice suggest there is still uncertainty over the number of pit stops we are likely to see in Sunday’s race. Six teams have retained two sets of Hard tyres, while all the others have already used at least one, a sign that there is not yet a unanimous view on the best way to tackle the Hungarian Grand Prix. "Given the higher level of degradation observed during the second session, when the drivers pushed harder, a two-stop strategy appears capable of offering an advantage over a one-stop race. However, the difficulty of overtaking at the Hungaroring must also be taken into account, as track position remains a decisive factor at this circuit. "Track grip was relatively low throughout the day, and the Soft proved to be the compound that best showcased the performance of the cars, thanks to the greater mechanical grip it delivered from the very first laps. By contrast, the Medium showed a degree of graining on the front-left tyre. "In general, protecting the rear axle is crucial at this circuit, while managing an inevitable level of front tyre degradation, which should nevertheless decrease as the track continues to evolve over the course of the weekend. The performance gap between the Soft and Medium compounds was around eight tenths of a second, in line with pre-event simulations. Attention now turns to the opening phase of qualifying tomorrow, where it will not be easy for the drivers to identify the optimal window for both the preparation lap and the flying lap on such a short circuit.” Download the Official F1 AppYour ultimate companion into
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