GP diary: issues we discovered from Friday on the Hungaroring

Following a heatwave in latest weeks, the Hungaroring offered the F1 drivers with each rain and sunshine throughout Friday with the opening follow going down in moist circumstances and the second one-hour session having been staged in dry climate. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó reviews on Day 1 on the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Regardless of arriving within the paddock fairly early within the morning, there was already an enormous quantity of followers ready for the drivers on the Hungaroring major entrence that has been just lately dismantled and will probably be changed by a brand new constructing within the coming weeks. The paddock was additionally full of individuals with photographers already ready on the gate the place drivers enter it coming from the parking zone.

Listed here are the important thing takeaways that stored the paddock busy in the present day.

Climate

Hungary normally enjoys very popular summers, however climate might be changeable as effectively. That was the case final yr when Formulation One arrived within the Hungarian capital with the in any other case persistent sizzling climate having modified for chilly and wet circumstances.

In the present day was paying homage to final yr in the best way that the final days noticed temperatures rise effectively above 30 levels Celsius whereas rain arrived in the present day to interrupt the opening follow session.

Nevertheless, significantly better sunny circumstances are predicted for the rest of the weekend. For tomorrow’s remaining follow and qualifying session, there may be solely a ten per cent probability for rain with temperatures anticipated to rise as much as 29 levels Celsius. For the grand prix itself, the chance for rain is underneath ten per cent whereas temperatures might attain 31 levels Celsius.

Big crowd

Though we have now solely accomplished the opening day on the Hungarian Grand Prix, there was an enormous crowd throughout the circuit in the present day. With the Hungaroring situated in a pure bowl, there are a lot of nice spots for followers to look at race motion. I normally depart the paddock throughout F1 periods to look at the automobiles as they deal with the corners in anger. It was not totally different in the present day on the Hungaroring with Turns 6 and seven having been my favorite spot for lengthy years.

Nevertheless, there was far more for followers to expertise in the present day. In addition to all of the actions the Fan Zone presents, there have been some critical company on the Fan Zone stage with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso kicking off the motion within the morning. The Spaniard was adopted by Williams Workforce Principal James Vowles and Alfa Romeo Racing Supervisor Beat Zehnder earlier than the stage welcomed its final visitor in type of AlphaTauri crew boss Franz Tost.

New tyre rule

Formulation One debuted a brand new tyre rule for this weekend which implies that drivers will solely have 11 units of slick tyres as an alternative of 13. Secondly, their palms are tied when it comes to compounds throughout qualifying as they are going to be pressured to make use of the C3 Onerous compound in Q1, the C4 Medium compound in Q2 and the C5 Mushy compound in Q3.

Drivers had been fairly vital following the primary trial of the brand new sporting rule, claiming that the discount of slick tyres meant they wanted to spend the vast majority of the day of their garages.

In actual fact, Purple Bull and Mercedes drivers solely used a single set of slick tyres all through the day with the intention to enhance their possibilities on Saturday and Sunday.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen commented: “With this new format, you’re simply tremendous restricted with the tyre units that you need to use, and I did not need to use them in the present day to no less than have a bit extra of a greater preparation tomorrow.”

Eight-time Hungaroring winner Lewis Hamilton felt sorry for the followers as they had been robbed monitor time because of the strict restrict of slick tyres.

“So, probably not an awesome format change they made for this weekend. It simply means we get much less working, so not splendid. Perhaps they need to take a look at one thing like that fairly than taking time on monitor away from the followers,” the Briton added.

Stress in mounting

Following 5 tough race weekends on which Sergio Perez did not get to Q3, the Mexican kicked off his Hungarian Grand Prix within the worst potential method. The six-time F1 race winner misplaced management of his RB19 within the opening follow, crashing into the obstacles at Flip 5 which precipitated vital injury to his RB19.

Perez took two spectacular wins in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan in 2023, however the stress has been mounting since. The Mexican has not solely been inconsistent just lately, however former Purple Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo has returned to the game as Nyck de Vries’ substitute and the Austrian is eying up a return to Purple Bull sooner or later.

Talking about his mistake in the present day, Perez added: “In the present day, the incident in FP1 was a mistake from my aspect. Nevertheless, the Workforce have finished an incredible job to get the automobile collectively so we might get some laps in for FP2 and, with the brand new tyre format this weekend, it was nice to get some good data and knowledge to look by means of.

“Relating to our new upgrades, it’s fairly early to remark and perceive how they’ll come into play, however we could have a greater thought of this tomorrow. Lastly, I’m optimistic about qualifying tomorrow and we have now every thing in place to exit and have a strong weekend.”

The massive return

All eyes had been set in the present day on Daniel Ricciardo, who has simply accomplished his first follow day in 2023. The Perth-born was unfortunate with all of the interruptions and moist floor in Free Apply 1 which restricted his working, however he might get beneficial mileage underneath his belt in his new race workplace within the second one-hour follow.

The eight-time F1 race winner was 14th quickest in FP2, simply over 0.4s off Tsunoda’s greatest time which put the Japanese driver a formidable fourth within the timesheets.

Talking quickly after leaping out of the AT04, Ricciardo mentioned: “I believe positions are most likely not too related in the intervening time. However I believe it was extra for me in the present day to really feel principally the place I’m with the automobile. All of it felt fairly acquainted.

“I believe clearly there may be numerous exterior consideration, however as soon as I put the helmet on and acquired within the automobile, all of it felt like I by no means actually left. That was good. Clearly, this morning we didn’t actually get something, however this afternoon… just a bit bit on the brand new tyre,” the Australian concluded.

De Vries on Mercedes’ radar

After having been ousted by AlphaTauri forward of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Nyck de Vries is evaluating his choices for the long run. The previous Formulation 2 and Formulation E champion remained silent following his exit from the Purple Bull household, however he opened up on social media this Wednesday, claiming that he wanted some days off to recover from his sudden departure from the game.

The Dutchman was noticed at a Monaco café, chatting with Mercedes Workforce Principal Toto Wolff, and the Anglo-German crew has now said they they might welcome de Vries again.

The 28-year-old served as Mercedes simulator driver, and he might drive three totally different F1 automobiles final yr, participating in Friday’s younger driver outings for Mercedes, Aston Martin and Williams.

Talking about their former check driver, Mercedes Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin mentioned: “I’ve solely spoken to him by textual content and he mentioned he’ll let me understand how his plans are approaching. He was definitely very helpful for us in that position and we’d be welcome to get him again in that position however I think that his focus will probably be on discovering race seats.

“If it’s not in Formulation 1, it will likely be in another huge and aggressive collection. He’s clearly very gifted, F2 champion Formulation E champion which is a really tough collection to win. And he’ll be seeking to get right into a profitable seat once more.”