By Carlo Platella
It’s a messy classification on Friday in Hungary, with a great mix of different cars at various levels of the standings. At the Hungaroring, teams and drivers experience scorching heat, which, combined with an already challenging track with its succession of corners, makes for a decidedly tough weekend for tires. Set-up, balance and driving preferences become the real themes of the Hungarian Grand Prixeven more than the characteristics of the individual cars, which nevertheless do not fail to emerge on the first day of action on the track.
Red Bull at work
The fastest on Hungarian Fridays are still them, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. The Englishman immediately appears in tune with his MCL38, fast in all three sectors of the Hungaroring. The stopwatch feedback is confirmed by the visual sensations, with the view from the press room on the tortuous third sector showing a McLaren capable of maintaining tight and rounded trajectories in the long medium-speed corners, without having to resort to more sharp-edged driving. It’s a different story for Max Verstappen, who after a few laps of race simulation finds himself having to call his RB20 to order several times in the two final hairpins, while continuing to print good times on the stopwatch.
The world champion continues to struggle with some flaws in the balance of the Red Bull, which have become increasingly evident as development continues. There would be no correlation with the package of updates that arrived in Budapest and was fitted to his car only, which mainly addressed cooling issues. “It is not particularly tied to the package”the comment of the technical director Waché regarding the imperfect balance. “It’s more of a general issue with temperatures, with the way the tyres work and where the balance is.”
The best news for Red Bull is finding Sergio Perez at the top of the standings, fourth at the end of the day. The Mexican can now count on the updated Silverstone floor, but not on the new bonnet fitted by Verstappen, which also arrived a month earlier than planned. Wache’s openness to alternating between the two packages based on the cooling needs of the various tracks is a cause for concern, painting the picture of an RB20 suffering from overheating which is also absorbing development resources.
Cavallino with more certainties
In third place he climbs Carlos Sainz’s surviving Ferrariafter Charles Leclerc’s accident at the start of the second practice session. An episode in which there is little to read from a technical point of view, as it was triggered not by an unpredictable reaction of the SF-24 but by Leclerc’s exit onto the kerb, on which the Rossa then began to skid with the floor. The biggest problem is linked to the time lost, with Ferrari that for 30 minutes remains orphaned of a second car with which to work on the set-up, also unable to try a different tire in the race pace simulation.
From the press room at the Hungaroring, the Red with Carlos Sainz at the wheel gives the impression of a good rotation in the medium-slow long-distance curves of the third sector, confirmed by the split times in line with those of Norris and Verstappen. This is an area where Ferrari has struggled since the start of the seasonbut that the controversial Barcelona update package seems to have improved. There is still work to be done in the balance between high and low mileages, with Sainz paying two tenths from the leaders in the technical central sector.
The most encouraging sign for the Prancing Horse is that in the few high-speed corners of the Hungaroring the SF-24 does not suffer from the bouncing that had instead been so limiting in previous races. Spa will be a more indicative test on this front, but the impression is that the adjustments to the trim and the small changes made to the bottom are hitting the target. It would be the sign of a team that has rediscovered its references, correcting the simulation techniques and those metrics that had anticipated the risk of bouncing with the Barcelona updates, but not to the extent that it then manifested itself.
Mercedes matt
It’s only Friday, but the Silverstone winners are far from the top positions right now. For Mercedes, the Hungarian round represents an important test, exposing the limits of the W15 after a track that instead favored the characteristics of the project. “Undoubtedly Silverstone suited our car”commented trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. “It was a more restrictive circuit for the front axle and it was run in cooler conditions. Where we still have a question mark is over performance in hot conditions and more restrictive circuits for the rear.” There could not have been a better test for the Brackley team, on a weekend that already on Friday saw the asphalt reach 60°C.
Also relevant are the statements made by Shovlin himself, which sound like a half-confirmation of the actual presence of modifications to the front suspension starting from Austria, a race where a suspicious swelling appeared on the front end of the W15. “We also worked on the mechanical package […]. One of the ways you can make a difference is when you bring a package that’s not just an aero upgrade that everyone’s trying to do. We’ve seen some pretty good gains in that area.” Meanwhile, in Hungary, Mercedes is still without the new features expected before the summer break, which are essential to keep up with the top of the class.
Those who bring several updates to the bottom to the Hungaroring are instead Aston Martinwho uses the free practice to carry out some comparative tests between the two cars, collecting a sarcastic “Good luck” by Fernando Alonso. The Hungarian track is one of the most difficult for the AMR24, a rough single-seater with a narrow operating window. In recent weeks, however, the team seemed convinced that it had understood how to correct the balance and aerodynamic characteristics to meet the drivers’ preferences. However, this objective still seems far away.
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