Hungary Friday: Ferrari ahead, big Aston Martin update

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With that, we have reached the end of the day. Tomorrow continues with the third practice at 12:30, qualifying is at 16:00.

We will, of course, be back in time with a new ticker for you. Have a nice evening, have a good weekend, and see you then!

Read more Mercedes emphasizes despite problems: Ferrari pace «not alarming»

Only P5 and P13 today for Mercedes, but deputy team principal Bradley Lord clarifies that Friday was “not alarming”. “We hope we can fight for pole position,” he emphasizes.

Lord reminds: “We have been competitive on every type of racetrack this year. I know there is an opinion that certain racetracks would favor us and others would favor others.”

“But we have seen that other teams generally fluctuate quite a lot. However, I think we have been quite consistently at the front and able to fight for pole position in every race,” says Lord.

Therefore, that “must also be our goal tomorrow,” he says confidently.

At Williams, hopes for points are once again not overly high. “As expected, it was a difficult Friday in Hungary,” says Carlos Sainz after P17.

“This track exposes our biggest weaknesses, and we are struggling to find the right balance for the car,” explains the Spaniard.

Teammate Alexander Albon adds after P16: “Aston has made a big step forward this weekend. They are the ones we have to beat.”

“That will make Q1 a challenge,” he fears.

The world champion was the first Ferrari pursuer today, but still says: “A difficult day. The two practice sessions were not exactly easy for us. We did make a step forward this afternoon, but there is still a lot to do.”

“We introduced some new parts on the car today and need to understand them a bit better and figure out how to set them up optimally,” says Norris, who also emphasizes that no miracles should be expected.

“We know we won’t catch the guys in front of us immediately, so we have to keep working hard. But in some areas, we are making progress in the right direction,” he says.

“We will work hard overnight to get more out of this package and see what we can achieve tomorrow,” says the world champion.

At Haas, it’s regularly the case that only one driver is happy with the car. This time, Oliver Bearman says: “Today was tough. I had great difficulty finding the feeling for the car, especially compared to last week.”

“I basically lost all the confidence I had built up in the last race,” says the Brit after P15. Esteban Ocon, on the other hand, says after P12: “It was a much better Friday than in Spa, the car felt much better.”

“Lately we’ve had a lot of difficulties, but today there were none, so it was a very positive day,” says Ocon. It just didn’t go as smoothly for his teammate…

Lando Norris, as the best non-Ferrari driver, was already half a second behind Lewis Hamilton’s best time today in P3. However, the Scuderia emphasizes that this picture is not realistic.

“Qualifying will be close. I don’t expect the gap to our competitors to be as big as it was today, so we have to deliver a perfect performance,” warns Charles Leclerc.

Nevertheless, he also emphasizes: “Our overall performance seems quite good, which is positive.” Leader Hamilton also speaks of a “solid” day. However, he also wants to find “a bit more performance”.

Nico Hülkenberg explains after P9 today: “It was a pretty straightforward Friday. We tested the different tire compounds, learned a bit more about the car setup, and made some progress with the settings between the two sessions.”

“Overall, I would say it was a decent day. As expected, the midfield is incredibly close again, so every small detail will make the difference tomorrow,” he emphasizes.

Teammate Gabriel Bortoleto speaks of a “positive” day after P11.

Less optimistic after Friday at Red Bull, where Pierre Wache explains that the car is difficult to drive. “I think it’s clear that we are not fast enough,” he admits.

“We just have to try to figure out how we can improve. We can’t work miracles, but we have to take it step by step,” explains Wache.

Isack Hadjar appropriately speaks of one of the toughest Fridays of the year. “I think the pace on the long run looked pretty good, but we were missing something on a single lap,” he explains.

Read more Long runs Hungary: Antonelli strikes back against Ferrari!

Ferrari made the best impression today, but Frederic Vasseur emphasizes: “We are not looking for the best Friday, but for the best Sunday. Today went pretty well, the setup is fine, the upgrades are working.”

“But we are still very far from qualifying,” he reminds and adds: “That means we have to continue to optimize the car to get the maximum performance everywhere and perform even better tomorrow than today.”

“But so far, it’s going well,” confirms the team principal.

Unlike his teammate, he didn’t crash, but Pierre Gasly also explains after P14: “We knew we would struggle here on this track, which is very much designed for downforce.”

“I think this was one of the most difficult Fridays so far. No grip, no feeling. The balance is definitely not where we want it to be yet. At the moment, we are really, really struggling,” he admits.

Q3 is “definitely” not on the cards this weekend. He says they even have to see if they can make it into Q2 tomorrow.

Lance Stroll couldn’t drive in FP2, but his teammate is satisfied. “It felt good,” says Fernando Alonso about the upgrade for the AMR26. “I think, on the whole, everything went as we expected,” he reports.

He emphasizes that the update working is “very encouraging for the future”. “We still have a long way to go, of course, as we are so far behind, but hopefully this is the first step of many more to come,” says Alonso.

He at least assumes that they won’t be hopelessly at the back of the field again this Sunday.

The Brit joins Piastri and explains: “Budapest is a fantastic racetrack, but half of it has been re-asphalted.” Now it’s “extremely bumpy, and in the last corners, the surface is crumbling in many places,” says Russell.

From a sporting perspective, Ferrari is currently a step ahead, he adds. “I believe that for both Kimi and me, the car was anything but great, and we believe there is still potential for improvement,” he emphasizes.

Let’s see if Mercedes can unlock this potential tomorrow.

The McLaren driver also had to hand over his car in FP1. After P8 at the end, he explains that he hasn’t used the updates today. “I think they worked as we expected on Lando’s car, which is good,” says Piastri.

“I don’t think they completely changed the car – which we didn’t expect, of course, but it would have been nice. We’ll see how it looks on my car tomorrow, and hopefully, it will be a successful day,” he emphasizes.

Generally, the track is difficult this weekend, he adds. “The new sections of the track don’t offer much grip,” he reports. It’s also “very windy”.

Speaking of Alpine: “A pretty short day,” summarizes Franco Colapinto, because: “I lost the morning, so that wasn’t ideal. In the last corner, I lost the rear and hit the tires with the rear.”

So he only managed eleven laps today, after Paul Aron was in the car in FP1. “Not a good day, not an ideal start,” he says, emphasizing that they don’t have much data for the rest of the weekend now.

“But I believe we can still work on it and try to set up the car better for tomorrow,” says Colapinto. First, however, the Alpine now needs to be repaired.

Before we get the reactions to Formula 1 Friday, let’s quickly look at Formula 2. Alpine junior Kush Maini snatched pole position in qualifying.

Second place went to Ferrari’s Rafael Camara, Oliver Goethe finished 13th.

Read more Franco Colapinto with frustration on Friday: No run in FT1, crash in FT2

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Result

Overall Friday Result