Thanks to the new format, making its debut this weekend, the first day of on-track action at the Hungarian circuit in view of the Hungarian Grand Prix has become an extremely complex puzzle to assemble, given the many facets of an atypical Friday.
On-track activity was less straightforward than usual, entangled with the various work programs pursued by the teams, each opting for different approaches. Some teams, like Mercedes, chose to complete the first day with only one set of medium tires, while others, like Red Bull, aimed to save as many sets as possible by running the minimum required laps in FP2.
“I think we were lucky it rained. Otherwise, no one would have done anything in FP1,” explained Lando Norris at the end of the practice sessions, emphasizing that with so few sets of tires available, realistically, teams would have decided to stay longer in the pits to save the tire allocation. Interestingly, the British driver was one of the few to use two sets of soft tires already on Friday, leaving him with only two new sets for qualifying, indicating that he might use the used tires from the first day of practice in FP3. Additionally, Norris completed an extensive stint on the medium tires, as if he had already conducted a thorough preparation on Friday.
Equally intriguing is Alfa Romeo’s approach, as they didn’t use any sets of soft tires, partly to focus on the harder compounds that will be used in the first two qualifying segments and partly because they have the ambition to compete for Q3, in a challenge that promises to be intense. While the race strategy can make a difference on Sunday, on a circuit like the Hungaroring, track position becomes even more crucial, making the grid position weigh heavily on the outcome compared to other races.
The team that was missing from the list is Red Bull, which significantly limited its track time during the second session, only using the soft tires. In fact, Verstappen is the driver who completed the fewest laps overall, without making a proper attempt on a flying lap, except to get a feel for the grip offered by the track. Unlike many of their competitors, they didn’t even perform an extensive race simulation, a usual aspect in a classic race weekend to anticipate their rivals. However, beyond the conservative mappings due to engine rotation, the initial feedback from the drivers is generally positive. So far, some minor difficulties have been encountered in terms of ride over curbs and front-end precision, which often translated into understeer, but these are aspects the engineers will work on overnight with the available data.
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Although the full potential of the RB19 hasn’t yet been fully revealed, Charles Leclerc believes that the car to beat is the one from Milton Keynes, staying faithful to the most common prediction: “They [Red Bull] used only one set in FP2, but we expect them to be the strongest team.”
Among the many almost opposite choices, some have remained in the middle, like Ferrari, which decided to focus much of its work program on the softest compound available, but without completely disregarding the yellow-banded tires, which will be used in both the race and qualifying. With the experimental format, it’s even more crucial to find a good balance across all the different types of tire compounds. Regarding the race simulation, the Maranello team adopted different approaches, trying to strike the right balance between different possibilities: one strategy involved pushing harder with Leclerc for faster lap times, while the other opted for a more conservative approach with Sainz, aiming to make the tires last as long as possible. They attempted to find a compromise between the two different approaches, understanding which one could be the best solution.
On such an atypical Friday, telemetric data takes a back seat, as what really matters is finding a good balance despite the few kilometers covered, especially when the first free practice session was lost due to rain. However, by observing the data, some interesting details emerge, particularly in terms of approach. From the telemetry, it can be noted that Ferrari recorded particularly high top speeds, even compared to their closest rivals.
For example, the advantage on the starting straight reaches 3 km/h over Red Bull and 5 km/h over McLaren, which throughout the season has shown some more difficulties in terms of performance in terms of resistance to forward movement. This aspect can also be appreciated before turn four, where some signs of derating can be noticed in the MCL60, an aspect that will need to be monitored on Saturday when the engine mappings are raised.
Photographer: Gianluca D’Alessandro
While the first sector times are more or less aligned with the final gap, more significant differences start to emerge in the second intermediate, especially in the interpretation of the fast sequence, the one that puts the tires under the most stress. In the snake section, the values alternate depending on the corner, while an interesting aspect shown by both Ferrari drivers is the significant drop in cornering speed in turn eleven, over 10 km/h compared to Norris. With limited data available, the situation could change in qualifying: this is a rather relevant aspect because a lower exit speed in that section forces a slower acceleration in the subsequent straight, resulting in a loss of time.
Saturday’s session, starting from the third free practice, is expected to have higher temperatures and different conditions compared to Friday, so much so that Pirelli expects asphalt temperatures to reach between 45 and 50°C for the race. The qualifying session, as well as the work done during the night after studying the data obtained from the simulations by the teams, will help to outline a more accurate picture of a Friday that was difficult to interpret at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest.
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