What we learned from Friday F1 practice at the Hungarian GP

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari concluded a fast-paced FP2 session in anticipation of the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, with neither Red Bull nor Mercedes displaying impressive times on the Formula 1 timing screens.

The Monegasque beat Silverstone podium-finisher Lando Norris to the uppermost echelon of the timing board amid a session that was influenced by both earlier rainfall and the alternative tyre allocation trial set for qualifying on Saturday. Two red flags had stifled running in FP1, as did the emergence of precipitation over the Mogyorod area, leaving the drivers to find scarce grip on a ‘green’ circuit in FP2.

The number of dry tyres available for the Hungary weekend was reduced from 13 to 11 due to the testing of different tyre compounds during each qualifying phase. As a result, teams had to be cautious with their tyre usage, even though there was limited dry running in FP1. Nevertheless, here are the main observations from Friday practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The story of the day

The first free practice session at the Hungaroring was heavily affected by rain, resulting in limited useful data. Teams were only able to make a few runs on wet tires before two red flags interrupted their plans. Towards the end of the session, Sergio Perez’s Red Bull spun out at Turn 5 and crashed into the wall, causing the first pause in the session.

During the pause, when the damaged RB19 was removed from the barrier, rainfall started and increased to a point where it affected all attempts at driving on dry surfaces for the remainder of the session. Drivers cautiously tested the increasingly wet track using intermediate tires, and Kevin Magnussen even used the wet tires to assess the level of traction possible.

Carlos Sainz then brought out the second red flag in the second half of the session having lost control of his Ferrari on the exit of Turn 3, clunking the inside barrier on the stretch towards Turn 4. The Spaniard nibbled off part of his front wing and was spared blushes by the marshals after beaching his SF-23 on the grass.

George Russell’s last-minute performance on intermediate tires propelled him to the leading position on the timing boards, surpassing Oscar Piastri and Lance Stroll. Additionally, there were indications of ongoing rain anticipated for FP2.

Russell topped a disrupted and wet first practice

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This was ultimately not realised and the circuit had dried out by the time the second practice session had begun. The opening 20 minutes were headed by the Williams drivers, as Logan Sargeant’s opening effort on soft tyres had given him the springboard to vault to the top of the timing board. The American had admittedly been going against the grain when the rest of the field opened their accounts on the medium compound, while he and Albon focused on the softest compound available.

Albon’s switch to medium tyres caused Sargeant to lose his position at the top of the timing board. However, Albon was soon overtaken by a series of laps on soft tyres, which propelled Yuki Tsunoda to the first place. Norris then surpassed Tsunoda with a lap time of 1m17.701s, but his position was taken over by Leclerc’s 1m17.686s.

The teams’ desire to conserve tires greatly impacted the longer runs, making it difficult to predict what will happen for the rest of the weekend. Additionally, the specific tire compounds assigned for each qualifying session (hards in Q1, mediums in Q2, softs in Q3) caused teams to prioritize different aspects, adding to the complexity.

On Sunday’s race, it is anticipated that temperatures in Budapest will reach approximately 30C. This is expected to eliminate the possibility of using the soft tire extensively, as it may liquefy and resemble camembert when it comes into contact with the Hungaroring track.

Red Bull, for example, poured its focus onto the soft tyre with Max Verstappen given the Dutchman would be expected to make the final part of qualifying. Sergio Perez, perhaps in response to his FP1 scrapes, was given a hot lap on the medium compound as the Mexican hopes to end his streak of not appearing in Q3. At the other end, Kevin Magnussen stitched some hot laps together on the hardest compound as Haas looked to get experience on the compound in use for Q1.

Unpicking the long-run uncertainty

As the teams saved tyres, it created certain levels of variance in the overall order of FP2 as traditional frontrunners did not necessarily assume their normal places at the top of the timing boards. In some cases, a parsimonious approach with tyres forced the teams into longer runs in FP2 than they would perhaps normally carry out, particularly on the medium tyre.

After experiencing unpredictable weather on Friday, it is anticipated that normal conditions will return and temperatures in Budapest will reach approximately 30C during Sunday’s race. As a result, it is unlikely that the soft tire will be widely used in the race, as it may liquefy and become similar to camembert cheese when in contact with the Hungaroring track surface. Many drivers opted for longer runs on the medium compound, and the table below displays the fastest times achieved by those who conducted extended runs. If a driver completed multiple runs on the same compound, the time from the longest run was considered.

Average medium FP2 runs

*Ferrari, Red Bull, AlphaTauri did not complete representative long runs on mediums

On a chaotic Friday, Alfa Romeo emerged as the unexpected standout.

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The performance of Alfa Romeo on their long-run simulations is a surprise, but the strong feedback from the drivers after the session suggests that some of it is rooted in reality rather than skewed by the tyre allocation limitations.

Valtteri Bottas analyzed, “The medium compound suited our car nicely during the session. We solely utilized this compound and it performed well. Tomorrow, we will assess how the hard and soft compounds fare. Nonetheless, today was positive for our car as it exhibited great stability, enabling us to confidently tackle the corners on this track. This contributed to a reasonably good lap time.”

From my perspective, it appears that we have the potential to be more competitive. The car’s stability in low-speed areas is impressive, with only a few challenging corners at higher speeds. Overall, the balance seems satisfactory. Therefore, I believe this track might be more favorable for us, but we will have to wait and see tomorrow.

Alfa Romeo, who has recently been overtaken by Williams in the fight for seventh place in the constructors’ standings, now poses a significant challenge to the British team. It is expected that there will be some return to average performance, but if the drivers of the C43 can take advantage of their qualifying balance, Alfa Romeo will position itself favorably on a track known for its challenging overtaking opportunities.

McLaren’s pace looked strong too, although the team perhaps has some concern over the overall performance of the MCL60 in lower-speed conditions. Norris’s overall stint was nonetheless impressive, sitting in the low 1m23s comfortably for about half of his longest run, and Piastri’s average time over a seven-lap stint was a 1m23.640s – two tenths off his team-mate’s average lap.

While Mercedes did its medium tyre runs with a set it had already used in FP1, these had scarcely had the sheen taken off of them before the Perez-enforced red flag and subsequent onset of rain. Regardless, the tyres were not at their absolute peak of performance and this somewhat hindered its overall run plans.

George Russell expressed that the situation was not too negative, stating, “To be honest, it didn’t feel too bad. Our approach was quite distinct from others, as we opted to utilize only one set of tires throughout the session. Moreover, these tires were already used during FP1. Hence, the lap times may not accurately reflect our performance, and I am confident that tomorrow will bring improvements. Nonetheless, our main objective remains to enhance our performance.”

In the second practice, Russell fell to the lowest position on the timesheet, but the outcome was mostly influenced by the predetermined run plans.

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

“We are aware that our performance generally improves as the weekend goes on, which is the ideal progression. Despite only having one session, we still discovered a few intriguing things. Let’s now explore what we can accomplish tonight.”

Red Bull and Ferrari conducted somewhat unrepresentative longer runs on the soft tyre, but the first-named team was slightly quicker through Verstappen’s nine-lap stint. The Dutchman’s average stint sat at 1m23.335s, compared to the 1m23.547s of Leclerc and 1m23.850s of Carlos Sainz.

Rewording:

Mastering the frequently criticized adjustments to the qualifying process will be extremely important at the challenging and demanding Hungaroring circuit, especially considering that the drivers were not enthusiastic about the limited practice time. Red Bull is expected to be the frontrunner in Sunday’s race. However, if another team can take advantage of the disorder and outperform Verstappen in qualifying, he will face a greater challenge in maintaining his current winning streak.

“After donning the helmet and settling into the car, it felt as if I had never truly departed,” expressed Daniel Ricciardo.

What they said

Max Verstappen expressed his intention to analyze the data to ensure its consistency, as they had limited usage of tyre sets during the day. He opted not to use them in order to have a better preparation for tomorrow. Verstappen believes that saving tyres is not the right approach and they need to find ways to improve in that aspect. Despite experiencing some understeer, the car felt decent overall. The long run appeared to be competitive, although it is challenging to assess the one lap pace at this stage. Nevertheless, Verstappen remains confident in the car’s strength.

Lewis Hamilton expressed that the car did not perform well today. He mentioned that it felt like the worst condition of the car. However, he remains optimistic and plans to make adjustments to the set-up tonight. He recalled that a similar situation occurred last year, where the car initially felt terrible but improved after implementing some set-up changes. Hamilton and his team are determined to work on those changes tonight and hope for a better performance tomorrow.

“I believe that my position is not particularly important at the moment. However, today was more about getting a sense of where I stand with the car. It all felt quite familiar to me. Despite the attention from outside, once I put on my helmet and got in the car, it felt as if I had never really left. That was a nice feeling. This morning, we didn’t achieve much, but this afternoon, I had a little experience with the new tire, although there’s nothing that worries me. The car felt fine. Honestly, it doesn’t feel too bad. There’s some work to be done tonight, but nothing excessive.”

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Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images