Max Verstappen thinks his Saturday weakness could be a Sunday strength after missing out on pole by just 0.003s with chronic balance problems.
Since he first got in the car on Friday, Verstappen has looked uncomfortable with the set-up of his upgraded Red Bull Racing machine. He regularly radioed his team during practice to ask if there was a problem with his car to explain its seemingly random handling behavior, notwithstanding the weekendâs blustery conditions.
Budapest fans were subsequently treated to the rare sight of the Dutchman having to set a banker lap in Q2 after having an earlier lap deleted for exceeding track limits. RBR sent him onto the track out of sync with the rest of the field to ensure the lap was clean, an unusually cautious approach for the runaway championship leader.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton has praised the overnight work of his team to turn the carâs lacklustre Friday pace into a surprise pole-setting performance.
Mercedes ended Friday practice anchored to the bottom of the time sheet, with Hamilton 16th and teammate George Russell last. While the raw times were due to neither driver using the soft tire, Hamilton described the car as being âat its worstâ at a track he has historically dominated.
âItâs night and day different today,â he said. âLiterally we turned it up on its head. Yesterday the car felt terrible. The balance was all over the place. It was very, very difficult to extract any performance from it.â
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton has set a new record for most poles at one racetrack by pinching the fastest time from Max Verstappen in a thrilling qualifying hour at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The fight for pole was delicately poised at the end of the first laps of Q3. Verstappen had strung together a lap for provisional pole, but his advantage was a slender 0.126s ahead of Hamilton.
The Dutchman has been unhappy with the balance of his Red Bull machine all weekend, and that discomfort was evident at several moments throughout qualifying.Â
Continue reading on RACERFormula 1 will race at the Hungaroring until at least 2032 after the circuit secured a fresh contract extension to host the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The new deal, which adds five years to the trackâs current agreement, comes after promises made by the track to undertake significant infrastructure upgrades, including the construction of a brand-new pit building.
Many of the trackâs facilities date back to its first grand prix in 1986. The circuit will celebrate its 46th anniversary in 2032.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton bested Max Verstappen to top spot of an intriguing final practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Warm weather and a high track evolution following rain on Friday made the hour difficult to read, as did the ongoing effects of Pirelliâs reduced tire allocations for teams, which forced them to be more frugal with their run plans.
It took until the final 15 minutes for Hamilton and Verstappen to get to their soft-tire qualifying simulation laps, having spent the balance of the hour on the slower medium tire.
Continue reading on RACERA topsy-turvy day of track action has left Formula 1 none the wiser as to the competitive order heading into a unique qualifying session in Budapest.
Charles Leclerc doesnât expect his strong practice pace to translate into a pole position challenge despite topping FP2 at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.
Leclerc headed an unusual top 10 in Budapest, pipping McLarenâs Lando Norris by just 0.015s and Alpineâs Pierre Gasly by 0.232s. AlphaTauri, Haas and Alfa Romeo were also represented on the top half of the time sheet.
Meanwhile Max Verstappen was 11th, and both Mercedes drivers were locked in the bottom five.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton says his Mercedes car was âat its worstâ on a difficult Friday afternoon at the Hungarian Grand Prix but apportioned some of the blame to Formula 1âs experimental tire rules in operation this weekend.
Hamilton finished the day an uncompetitive 16th and 1.06s off the pace. Teammate George Russell was last and 1.489s adrift.
Pirelli has temporarily reduced the number of sets of dry-weather tires available for each driver from 13 to 11 in a push to improve its environmental footprint and create more strategic jeopardy. Rather than the usual two hards, three mediums and eight softs available, each driver has been allocated three hards, four mediums and four softs.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc topped a shaken-up dry second practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly.
Ferrari driver Leclerc used a new set of soft tires to set a best time of 1m17.686s to pip McLarenâs Norris by just 0.015s, with Gaslyâs Alpine a further 0.217s adrift.
The final hour of Friday practice featured a diverse array of running plans that made comparisons between drivers difficult to make.
Continue reading on RACERRed Bull Racing and sister team AlphaTauri headline the schedule of upgrades for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with both making major aerodynamic revisions in Budapest.
Red Bull Racing has been dealing with a 10 percent reduction in development time owing to its penalty for breaching the 2021 cost cap and has thus far refrained from bringing major upgrades to the RB19 this season. The team has listed five major parts to the upgrade package applied at the Hungaroring, though four of those components have reliability listed as their primary purpose.
The car has enlarged front and rear brake ducts that will help deal with the higher braking energy generated around the twisty Budapest circuit, The rear duct exits will also add local load.
Continue reading on RACERGeorge Russell topped a wet first practice hour at the Hungarian Grand Prix after Sergio Perez spun into the barriers just three minutes into the session.
Perez was two laps into his run plan when he dipped his left wheels onto the grass getting on the brakes at Turn 5, sending him sliding out of control towards the outside barrier on exit. His upgraded Red Bull Racing car crunched its left-front corner into the wall, forcing a red flag to retrieve it from the circuit.
âI cannot believe this,â the distraught Mexican said over team radio, acknowledging his rookie error.
Continue reading on RACERAlpine CEO Laurent Rossi has been replaced at the head of the French carmaker by vice-president Philippe Krief, effective immediately.
Rossi took up the CEO role in 2021 as the Formula 1 team transitioned from Renault to Alpine to increase visibility of the boutique car brand. The Frenchman will be shifted to a âspecial projectsâ role in the broader Groupe Renault.
Rossiâs hands-on reign featured the acquisition from Aston Martin of Otmar Szafnauer as team principal, but engineer Marcin Budkowski and French racing icon Alain Prost were collateral damage of his attempt to shake the team out of its midfield lethargy.
Continue reading on RACERRed Bull Racing sets its sights on a new record, but all anyone wants to talk about is Daniel Ricciardo’s sudden F1 comeback.
Lando Norris played down expectations of a strong result for McLaren this weekend at the Hungaroring, despite his stunning second-place finish in Silverstone.
The heavily upgraded MCL60 looked at home at the British Grand Prixâs fast, sweeping bends, qualifying second and third and finishing second and fourth, with Oscar Piastri missing out on a maiden podium thanks only to the timing of the safety car.
Further upgrades are due on the car this weekend, completing a three-race update cycle that Norris said was the largest he seen in his Formula 1 career. But despite the positivity around McLarenâs big step forward into the front-running pack, the Briton is anticipating tougher going in Budapest, where he doesnât expect the circuitâs slower layout to play to the carâs strengths.
Continue reading on RACERSergio Perez says he isnât concerned about the threat posed by Daniel Ricciardo being back on the grid despite the Australianâs intention to take his Red Bull Racing seat.
Ricciardo is Red Bull Racingâs reserve driver this season but has been loaned to the sister AlphaTauri team to replace the ousted Nyck de Vries for the rest of the year. The sudden switch was made after Ricciardo set a time quick enough to have been on the front row of the British Grand Prix during a Pirelli tire test at Silverstone last week.
The test came just days after Perez started the British race 16th, having been knocked out of Q1 for the third time this season. It was also the sixth time in 10 rounds he had failed to qualify inside the top 10 for a grand prix.
Continue reading on RACERDaniel Ricciardo is confident he can avoid the same mistakes that almost ended his career at McLaren in his 12-race stint with AlphaTauri.
Ricciardo arrived at McLaren as one of Formula 1âs most highly rated drivers but was mystifyingly incapable of coming to terms with Wokingâs cars across two different rule sets.
The eight-time race winnerâs problem stemmed from the McLarenâs particular demands on corner entry, with its comparatively weak front axle needing to be loaded up on braking in a way that didnât mesh with his driving style. Efforts to adjust his method behind the wheel generated little joy, and he was released from the team last year, with a year still to run on his contract.
Continue reading on RACERYuki Tsunoda believes former AlphaTauri teammate Nyck de Vries deserved at least two more races to prove himself before losing his seat.
De Vries was dropped from the team after only 10 grands prix to make way for the returning Daniel Ricciardo, who will line up in Faenza colors at this weekendâs Hungarian Grand Prix.
Red Bull management had expressed disappointment that de Vries hadnât been more competitive from the outset given his credentials as a Formula E and Formula 2 champion. Whispers had swirled for weeks that the Dutchman was set to be cut from the team, but Tsunoda said he was shocked that it came so suddenly, with two races still to run before the midseason break.
Continue reading on RACERHype is building for Daniel Ricciardo’s first race back in F1, but expectations remain low for his new AlphaTauri team. Sergio PĂŠrez gets a vote of confidence â of sorts â from Red Bull management. And is 2024’s record-breaking calendar good for the sport?