(Budapest) Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was the fastest on Friday after the first two free practice sessions of the Hungarian GP, 11th round of the Formula 1 world championship, the first having been disrupted by rain.
However, Leclerc was only 15/1000th ahead of the Briton Lando Norris (McLaren) during the 2nd session which took place on a dry circuit. Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) placed 3rd by just over two tenths.
“A pretty difficult day to understand and analyze compared to the others, because we all have different programs, but we have to improve the car on the few corners where it was not going too well today. We’ll see tomorrow (Saturday) where we are compared to the others,” Leclerc said.
The relative disappointment came from the Red Bulls, who have won every race since the start of the season and are aiming for a 12th consecutive victory in Hungary. Max Verstappen, the reigning world champion and current championship leader, did not turn in the first session due to rain and he could do no better than 11th in the second.
His team-mate Sergio Pérez had another dark day when he left the track at the very start of the first session, when it was not yet raining, damaging the front axle of his single-seater.
This could be repaired in time for 2nd, but the Mexican couldn’t do better than 18th. “The first session going off the track was my fault,” Pérez admitted.
In addition, the teams must, from this GP of Hungary, deal with a new regulation which requires them to use certain types of tires in a defined order and this seems to handicap some teams more than others, including Red Bull.
“With the new rules you have a very limited number of tires to use and I didn’t want to wear them out today so that we could better prepare tomorrow” (Saturday), during the 3rd free practice session in the morning and in view of qualifying in the afternoon, Verstappen pointed out.
Disappointment also at Mercedes with only the 16th time for the Briton Lewis Hamilton and the 20th for his teammate and compatriot George Russell during the 2nd session. Russell had however achieved the best time of the 1st, but in the rain.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who returns to F1 with AlphaTauri after several months away, set the 14th fastest time for his return.
“There’s obviously a lot of attention around me, but as soon as I put the helmet on and sit in the car, everything feels familiar, like I’ve never left,” he said.
His compatriot Oscar Piastri, who replaced him at McLaren at the end of the last season, experienced some setbacks by damaging his car and only achieved the 19th and penultimate time of the 2nd session.
The other McLaren driver, Briton Lando Norris, confirmed the return to form of the orange single-seaters after their good results at the previous British GP with his 2nd time.
McLaren are battling with Alpine for 5th place in the championship. Pierre Gasly’s good time just behind Norris in the second session cheered up the French team, whose two single-seaters had retired at Silverstone. His teammate Esteban Ocon placed 5th.
Alpine had announced the day before a reshuffle of its management with the replacement of Laurent Rossi by Philippe Krief, who came from Ferrari. The French team finished the 2022 season in 4th place among manufacturers and hoped to do at least as well in 2023 with the French Ocon and Gasly. But it is already well behind the top four (in order Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Ferrari) and has just been overtaken by McLaren in the provisional standings.