What the teams said – Friday in Hungary

McLaren

There was nothing to choose between the two McLaren drivers in the first practice session, Norris winding up just 0.019s ahead. But the Brit locked up at one point while Piastri took too much kerb on his flying lap, so both left time out there. The same could be said of FP2, with both Norris and Piastri kicking up dirt and dust after running wide. But that just showed how hard the team mates were pushing each other, with Norris very much having the edge on Friday.

There was one late moment for the duo, Norris coming out of the pits late on in FP2 as Piastri was on a fast lap. Norris had to brake hard into Turn 1 and locked up his front tyres as the Australian swept around the outside. A taste of what might be to come on Sunday perhaps.

Oscar Piastri - FP1: 1:16.071, P2; FP2: 1:15.915, P2

“It’s been a good Friday. Our competitiveness has looked strong. We’ve got some things to try and tidy up overnight, but all in all, it’s been a solid first day. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”

Lando Norris - FP1: 1:16.052, P1; FP2: 1:15.624, P1

“It’s been a promising day on track, the car felt good from the first couple of laps. The competition is tight, but I've got a good feel for what we need from the car, so we’ll work on that overnight and make sure we’re in the best possible position going into Qualifying tomorrow.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“It’s been a positive and productive first day in Hungary, completing our run plan without any interruptions. Hitting the ground running is important here, and both drivers were able to produce plenty of laps, collecting a solid amount of data. This will allow the team to work overnight in preparation for tomorrow’s Qualifying, where we expect a close, competitive challenge for pole position.”

Ferrari

Leclerc was the only driver to get within half a second of the two McLarens in the opening session, winding up two tenths adrift. He was the happier of the two Ferrari men, as Hamilton started his weekend with a few complaints about his car and a big lock up to boot. Leclerc again pushed the papaya cars the closest in FP2, this time finding himself four tenths off Norris’ benchmark lap. Hamilton seemed happier in the second session, but has work to do to get on the pace of his team mate at a track he has a very impressive record at.

Charles Leclerc - FP1: 1:16.269, P3; FP2: 1:16.023, P3

“We went through our planned programme in both sessions. McLaren seem to be quite a bit ahead of us but we will stay focused on ourselves and try to turn things around tomorrow. I don’t think there is much we can do differently, so it will be all about reproducing the work we did today.”

Lewis Hamilton - FP1: 1:16.734, P5; FP2: 1:16.329, P6

“We worked through the programme and made several changes to improve the balance. I’m still chasing grip, but we’re heading in a positive direction. There’s definitely more to extract ahead of Qualifying. The race runs showed higher tyre degradation than we’ve seen at recent events, so we’ve got some work to do overnight. There’s plenty of data to analyse, and I’m looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow.”

Aston Martin

Alonso opted to sit out FP1 with a muscular issue with his back, which gave Drugovich a chance to drive in his place. Bar one big lock up, the Brazilian did well – as did Stroll, who wound up in the top 10 after his soft shod run. But better was to come in FP2, when Stroll wound up briefly ‘best of the rest’ when the soft tyres went on. Although he was eventually pipped by Leclerc’s Ferrari, Stroll wound up a very credible fourth and with Alonso backing him up in fifth, that pace looks genuine. With some big teams struggling, Aston Martin have a real chance of a big result this weekend.

Fernando Alonso - FP2: 1:16.233, P5

“I have a small injury in a muscle in my back which we are managing. We have found some solutions to help manage it and I had no pain in FP2, so that’s a positive. Obviously I missed FP1, but FP2 felt good in the car. The balance of the car isn’t quite in the window yet and that’s something we need to work on overnight. We’ll review all of the data and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Lance Stroll - FP1: 1:16.958, P10; FP2: 1:16.119, P4

“I’m excited to be back in Hungary, I always enjoy coming back here. The timesheets looked positive today – the car felt good and I was happy with the car balance during both practice sessions. So a good start to the weekend, but it’s always hard to tell on a Friday where you stand compared to your competitors.”

Felipe Drugovich - FP1: 1:17.269, P16

“It was good getting behind the wheel of the AMR25. The car felt nice to drive and I felt comfortable. I only got confirmation that I would be replacing Fernando in FP1 this morning, and I’m happy with my performance today. I didn’t have much time to prepare, but I watched some videos of laps to get ready and I had done some laps on the sim as part of my duties as Test and Reserve Driver this weekend. It was a good session and we got through the work we needed to, which is the main thing.”

Racing Bulls

Hadjar impressed in FP1, winding up fourth and splitting the Ferrari duo. He did set his lap time a little later than some others though, when the track had rubbered in. The rookie again impressed in the second session, this time winding up eighth in a very tightly matched top 10. Lawson could not quite match his team mate, finishing down the order in both sessions. He will be studying Hadjar’s telemetry overnight, to see where he is shipping time out there ahead of that all-important Qualifying tomorrow.

Isack Hadjar - FP1: 1:16.681, P4; FP2: 1:16.427, P8

“The car is feeling really strong, and we had a solid FP1. In FP2, the top teams started to show their pace, so we dropped down the timings a bit, but the car still felt great. There are a few areas where I’m not completely comfortable yet, but it’s still quick, and we have some margin to improve. FP2 gave us a more accurate picture of our true pace this weekend. It’s a high downforce track, and driving here is a lot of fun.”

Liam Lawson - FP1: 1:17.184, P14; FP2: 1:16.812, P15

“It’s been a little bit tricky for us today, but the track has been really fun to drive. Traffic management here is quite tough, and with one more session tomorrow morning we have a little bit of work to do. We're a bit out of position right now and as always, it's very close. If we can find some small things, it will make a big difference to where we are for Qualifying.”

Mattia Spini, Chief Race Engineer

“The Hungaroring is always a tough challenge, with little opportunity for tyres to cool down in the lap, making it difficult to find a good car balance. Isack was competitive throughout, and although Liam didn’t get the most out of his lap in FP2, the pace is there. The midfield is incredibly tight, so putting everything together in qualifying will be critical. With overtaking being difficult here, grid position and a strong race start will be key. We gathered good long-run data today, which will help shape our strategy, and we’ll continue fine-tuning the package overnight on the simulator.”

Mercedes

Russell started FP1 brightly, despite the reasonably high track temperatures. But when they bolted on the softs, neither Russell nor Antonelli could extract as much pace as some of their rivals. The good news for the teenager is he did pip his more experienced team mate though, which should help his confidence after a difficult run of races. Russell returned the favour in FP2, but apart from that, there wasn’t much to write home about for the Silver Arrows. They do not have the pace for the front rows based on Friday’s running, with the high track temperatures certainly not helping their cause.

George Russell - FP1: 1:16.925, P8; FP2: 1:16.417, P7

“It was a strange day today. Whilst we expected to see the McLarens looking strong, there were some surprises on the timing screens. Aston Martin seemed to have good pace on the single lap and several other cars looked competitive on the long run. Our focus has been on ourselves though. We’ve re-introduced the previous specification of our rear suspension to find more stability in the car. We didn’t expect to have a major breakthrough moment but overall, the car felt better to drive and gave me more confidence. It has therefore been a positive Friday and we will now keep chipping away over the rest of the weekend to secure a solid result come Sunday.”

Kimi Antonelli - FP1: 1:16.880, P7; FP2: 1:16.520, P10

“I’m feeling quite happy after today’s running. The car gave me more confidence than I have felt in recent races, and I feel like I was able to extract more lap-time. We’re still missing a bit of pace compared to those at the very front, but this is hopefully a good platform on which to build. I had a lot of traffic on my best lap on low fuel so we could have been higher up on the timing screens. The long run looked competitive though so definitely a good feeling going into the weekend. With all that said, Friday doesn’t count for anything. We know how important track position is around here so we will have to do a good job come Qualifying tomorrow afternoon. The field is tight, and we will have to be at our best to give ourselves a good opportunity of scoring solid points on Sunday. That is certainly our aim. We will work hard overnight and look at what improvements we can make ahead of Saturday.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

“Our focus today has been on re-establishing a solid baseline with the W16 after introducing some instability in recent races. That has left both George and Kimi struggling to extract the pace relative to the field that we saw in the first six races of the season. We’ve therefore re-introduced a previous specification of rear suspension and, whilst we knew it would be no silver bullet, it seems to have given the drivers more confidence with the car. We also opted to run different set-ups across the cars in FP2 and that has given us a clear direction of focus for the rest of the weekend.

“We do seem to have solved some of the recent issues with those changes, but we’ve got plenty of work to do tuning the balance for both the single lap and long run. We will need to work diligently overnight to ensure we build on today’s work into the rest of the weekend. There is still a healthy deficit to the McLarens at the very front of the pack and several cars who looked competitive behind. There is more pace for us to find and that is now our focus.”

Red Bull

Neither Verstappen nor Tsunoda troubled the front few rows in FP1, the Red Bull not looking particularly quick out of the box. Unfortunately for the team, the same trend continued in the second session with he Dutchman calling his car “undriveable” at one point. The good news for Red Bull is that this has been the case before on Fridays, only for the team to turn things around overnight. But at least Tsunoda had a solid FP2 session, finishing in the top 10 and getting the beating of his team mate to boot.

Verstappen was called to the stewards to explain a moment in FP2 when he appeared to throw a towel out of his cockpit and onto the race track, with just a warning given in the end.

Max Verstappen - FP1: 1:16.940, P9; FP2: 1:16.791, P14

“Today was quite tough and it was a low grip feeling in the car and not as balanced as we would have liked. It is difficult to say what the problem was, as nothing really worked, so we will have to investigate overnight as so far it has not been our weekend. During the session I had a towel that you wipe your face with in the car when I went out. Instead of it potentially flying in between my feet, which would have been dangerous, I drove off the line and got rid of it in the safest way possible. Overall today wasn’t great so we need to understand what was causing the problems and I’m sure that we can do better and turn things around. The McLarens are looking strong so we will need to look at what we can do to be better.”

Yuki Tsunoda - FP1: 1:17.393, P17; FP2: 1:16.485, P9

“There were some positives to take from today in both of the practice sessions, we enjoyed a step up in performance from FP1 to FP2 which is always a good sign on a Friday. The issue we faced wasn't actually the balance, it was the grip that we struggled with which wasn't where we'd normally want to have it, and that's what we were lacking a little today. We can go into tomorrow with some positivity from both cars, but we just need to find what we're missing so far this weekend ahead of Qualifying.”

Pierre Waché, Technical Director

“It was a very difficult day out there for us today, the car is not behaving as expected currently. We did some tests during both sessions today and nothing is responding as expected. We have to analyse all the tests we have done during the night and tomorrow before Free Practice. Currently we are not competitive enough, so there is a lot of work to do and we are hoping we will find some good solutions for tomorrow.”

Haas

Bearman impressed for Haas in FP1, wounding up solidly in the top 10 as the American team continued to explore the limits of their latest upgrade package. He dropped down the order a little bit in the second session, but is still in striking distance of the top 10 and given how tight the field are, will very much fancy his chances. He seems to have the edge on Ocon here, although the Frenchman was not too far back in either session.

Esteban Ocon – FP1: 1:17.004, P12; FP2: 1:16.704, P13

“In FP1, we had a decent car but we didn’t optimise the lap perfectly, there was a bit more in it. In FP2, I think we took a little step back as it wasn’t as clean a session and the car felt a little bit more difficult to drive. It didn’t exactly have the right balance and corners, so we’ll work hard tonight to fix that and get more performance out of tomorrow. In one tenth, there’s like six positions in it, so it all makes a huge difference. We need to put it all together.”

Oliver Bearman - FP1: 1:16.878, P6; FP2: 1:16.567, P11

“FP1 went well and we had a clean session. The car felt good from lap one, which is always a good way to start your weekend. I had a lot of confidence in every lap I did and it was building up, the car was feeling amazing. It was similar in the car in FP2 but it was a much messier session – I had lots of traffic, and it was tough to get rhythm in the session. I managed to put an okay lap together but there is a lot more pace in the car, so hopefully with a cleaner session tomorrow and a good Qualifying, we can be up there.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“We had contrasting sessions, with FP1 being really good but not executing FP2 very well. We can see the car is quick, but we didn’t get the most out of it, and we need to come away from this weekend maximising our potential. From Silverstone, the fantastic work from the team at the factory has given us a very competitive car. At three different circuits now – Silverstone, Spa and Budapest – the car has been competitive, which is amazing, and it’s up to us to make use of it. We need to refocus tonight and look at what we didn’t do so well today and get it right for FP3. Overtaking is difficult at the Hungaroring, so we need solid preparation and a good Qualifying.”

Kick Sauber

Kick Sauber had a difficult opening session, with two separate issues on their cars. First Aron was forced to pull over by the track with a technical issue, which ended his FP1 session early and cost him a chance to impress. Then Bortoleto was wheeled back into the garage late on with a different problem. Luckily both cars were fixed in the break, and Hulkenberg was the first out in FP2. The German looked decently quick too so might be dreaming of Q3 tomorrow, while Bortoleto struggled a little more to get close to the top 10.

Nico Hulkenberg - FP2: 1:16.680, P12

“It wasn’t the busiest day for me in terms of track time, with Paul taking over the car in FP1. Unfortunately, he encountered an issue early on and couldn’t complete many laps – not ideal, especially when a young driver gets the opportunity to experience an F1 car. I definitely feel for him. FP2 ran smoothly on my side: it was a clean session with no issues and I felt comfortable in the car right from the start. We were able to complete our programme and collect some valuable data. Now it’s about going through everything overnight to make sure we’re putting the best possible package together for tomorrow.”

Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:17.652, P19; FP2: 1:16.946, P17

"It was a decent day overall, although not the best feeling I’ve had with the car so far. FP2 was particularly challenging – especially on the soft compound, where I struggled a bit with balance and low-fuel performance. That said, race pace looked encouraging, and practice is all about testing and learning. I was able to make some improvements on the driving side, which is always positive. We have another session tomorrow to fine-tune everything ahead of qualifying, and I’m confident we can put together a strong package. The team has been doing a fantastic job all season, constantly improving, and I believe we’re in a good position to fight for competitive results here in Hungary."

Paul Aron – FP1: 1:19.788, P20

“First of all, a big thank you to the team for the opportunity to jump back in the car. After a great weekend in Silverstone, I was really looking forward to building on that momentum and taking another step forward here. Things started off well and the first laps felt good on the hard compound. A technical issue after the initial run, however, meant we had to stop the car as a precaution. Of course, it’s a pity for the whole team to cut the session short, but that’s just part of the game in motorsport. In the end, even a few laps are valuable, and I’m thankful for the experience.”

Williams

Sainz locked up on his soft tyre run in FP1, but other than that Williams had a steady opening session. The Spaniard encountered more issues in FP2 when he briefly lost telemetry, which meant he had no idea when other drivers were approaching. Luckily, that was fixed quickly before he hampered too many of his colleagues out there. Albon had a quieter FP2, but the team’s pace faded and they found themselves quite far down the order so have plenty of work to do overnight if they want to get anywhere near Q3 tomorrow.

Alex Albon - FP1: 1:16.984, P11; FP2: 1:17.021, P18

“Today has been okay. Our FP1 pace was strong. We didn't do a second push, but we were looking top five pace in that session on a track that doesn't normally suit us. We've made some set-up changes to the car this weekend that feel good. We maybe went in the wrong direction for FP2, so we need to look at that. We knew this was going to be a tricky track for us but that allows us an opportunity to explore set-up and we have some good ideas now.”

Carlos Sainz - FP1: 1:17.184, P15; FP2: 1:16.874, P16

“We had a few issues today but, ultimately, we don’t seem to have the performance we want this weekend. We did expect this track to be challenging for us, and we’ve tried to find areas of performance all day with different set-ups. We’ll take all the learnings from today, make some changes overnight and give our best shot tomorrow at the top 10 in Qualifying.”

Alpine

Colapinto was the first to bolt on the softs in FP1 but had to abort his lap due to yellow flags. He did manage to then set a time, but it was earlier than the others and so he tumbled down the order once the track rubbered in. Alpine then seemed to struggle for pace in FP2, winding up with both cars down the order. With no upgrades planned, both drivers know points will be a tougher and tougher ask this season, but Gasly might be doing a rain dance overnight and hoping those thunderstorms do materialise tomorrow.

Pierre Gasly - FP1: 1:17.123, P13; FP2: 1:17.043, P19

“It's been a tricky day for us in Budapest. The car felt generally quite difficult to drive and we really struggled to put together a complete lap. We were just sliding a lot across both sessions and we know traction is an area we have tended to struggle with so far this season. I am sure we can improve things and I know we will put in a lot of effort tonight and in the morning to be in a better position by the next session. At recent races, we have had a similar trend where we have lacked some performance through practice and still managed to come away with a good result so we remain positive and confident in our abilities to at least make an improvement from today.”

Franco Colapinto - FP1: 1:17.464, P18; FP2: 1:17.159, P20

“It was not an easy day where both Pierre and I have faced similar limitations in the car. We're generally struggling with car balance and a big lack of grip. It was one of those days where we just did not find our way so hopefully some of the things we did try can serve us better for tomorrow. Fridays, recently, have not been a strength for us so we will aim to find the right changes and come back stronger ahead of Qualifying. We will focus on what we have in front of us, which, right now, is making the car more consistent and easier to drive. There are many areas to improve and I am sure we can do it and have a better one on Saturday.”

Pirelli

Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer

“Getting back to a standard format weekend gives us much more time to gather data on how the tyres are behaving, which is particularly important on a track noted for quite significant thermal degradation. In fact, temperatures were a very relevant factor today, especially when compared to those on Friday last year: at times they were 15° C lower in FP1 and 10 °C in FP2. Cooler temperatures mean a faster track which explains much of the improvement in lap times from one year to the next – around 2”7 in the first session and 2”1 in the second. The other factor is of course the progress the cars have made in terms of performance.

“We didn’t see any graining and thermal degradation was pretty much in line with our expectations. All three compounds were used in several long runs and that meant we saw that even the Soft is not at all out of the running for a dry race. From what we saw today, the two-stop definitely seems the most effective option, using the Medium and the Hard. These two compounds were pretty close in performance terms so they should both have a role to play.”