Our Formula 1 reporter Joost Nederpelt has answered your best and most frequently asked questions about the Hungarian Grand Prix and Formula 1 in general. Read the questions and answers below.
Oerlemans: What are the two antennas on the nose of an F1 car for?
“The front antenna is a so-called pitot tube. This is an aerodynamic measuring instrument that measures the airspeed. This way they know exactly how fast the car is going. The rear antenna is for the on-board radio.”
Diederik: What does an error message F20 mean at RedBull?
“These codes are secret at Red Bull and refer to the buttons on the steering wheel. So we don’t know what this means.”
Emping: Why is there still reference to a Honda engine when a Redbull engine is actually used this season?
“The engine is indeed registered as a Red Bull Powertrain, but that is only a label. The engines are still built, developed and maintained by Honda in Japan, until the 2025 season. That is why there is also a small ‘HRC’ sticker on the car, which stands for Honda Racing Corporation.”
“The Red Bull factory will not start building engines until 2026, when the new regulations are in force. Porsche will probably also interfere with this, that announcement is expected soon.”
Reader: Can a driver switch cars? For example, if Verstappen’s Red Bull breaks down during training, can he drive in the van Pérez?
“Yes, that’s allowed. Only from qualifying is a driver stuck to his car.”
Kilsdonk: Can you also use DRS if you are lagging behind and you end up behind someone who is driving free in front? (Because you’re one lap behind)
“Yes, regardless of where you drive and in which position you can use DRS. As long as you pass the measuring point within a second of the car in front of you.”
Ccg: Will this be a podium (in order) of the best drivers of the last and coming decade: Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton?
“Verstappen and Hamilton are certainly part of that. The battle for third place is still open. Vettel was also quite successful in the previous decade.”
Gasly had to start from the pit lane due to an engine change. When do you get a grid penalty and when do you have to start from the pit lane?
“You have to start from the pit lane if you change to an engine (or other engine parts) that are outside the limit of three. And if you change to other parts of the car that are of a specification that you did not have earlier in the season The bike has been out of that last rule since the British GP.”
Reader: How come Ferrari didn’t get involved on their soft tires at the end?
“That is a question Ferrari could not answer itself. Sainz’s stint on soft was quite long, but his pace was not great. Ferrari had clearly not taken into account enough in the set-up the prediction that it would be so much on Sunday. colder than Friday, which didn’t help them strategically either, although it didn’t excuse the two bad pit stops at Sainz and the wrong choice of hard tires at Leclerc.”
Oosterwijk: How is it possible that Ferrari has the fastest car but such bad strategists?
“That is difficult to say, because it is an internal process. There are clearly a lot of things that go wrong in the decision-making process. That can be due to bad simulations, too little attention to practice, too little ear for sounds from the drivers, and of course simply mistakes of the strategists.”
Pieterman: During a pit stop, work is done very quickly. What strikes me is that the mechanics change the tires so easily, but that this seems like a tough job. What do tires with rim weigh?
“The wheels and tires together weigh 74 kilos, so 18.5 kilos per wheel and rim. So it’s a matter of muscles that the mechanics make that look so easy.”
Pieterman: At the end of the race, the drivers always thank their team. How big is such a team and what roles are there in it?
“That differs per team, but let’s start with the top teams. They often consist of hundreds of people, at the factory and on location. There are of course the mechanics on location, usually at least six per car.”
“In addition, there are also the necessary engineers on site, such as the race engineer at the pit wall (‘GP’ at Verstappen) and performance engineers. The strategists often work on location, although they receive these from the factory real time support with all kinds of calculations. There is an entire room full of people watching, calculating and advising.”
“The technical teams also receive support from the factory in this way. This is done with high-quality connections. So if a driver thanks his team, you can assume that it concerns a large group of people.”
Landranger: Verstappen had problems with the clutch. To what extent can Verstappen change settings from the car so that the clutch is less heavily loaded?
“Verstappen can change the engagement point of the clutch, but this mainly has to do with the start and driving away after pit stops. There are never any clutch problems during the drive itself, because the clutch in modern Formula 1 gearboxes actually works during the drive. is not used.”
Wolbrink: When the tire warmers are no longer allowed to be used. Do we still have several different strategies?
“The strategies continue to differ, but things do change because it takes longer for the drivers to have their tires up to temperature after a pit stop. We saw the effect this can have with Charles Leclerc on Sunday. Before the start, the drivers have the warm-up lap to adjust the temperature in to get the tyres, so I don’t foresee too many problems with that.”
Joeri: How come the Mercedes and Ferrari cars react so differently to cold and hot weather?
“It’s difficult to put your finger on that, but it has to do with the functioning of the tires and the functioning of the aerodynamics. They react differently to different conditions, which can be beneficial or disadvantageous for each team. Also the engines can respond to higher or lower temperatures.”
“Mercedes, for example, still had trouble getting the tires up to temperature on Friday, which would of course be problematic, especially with the colder temperatures in front of the door. They then made the necessary adjustments in the set-up, which also paid off in qualifying on Saturday and Sunday. Ferrari had adapted too little after the hot Friday, and that was expensive.”
Vanaalst: Now that Mercedes is explicitly reporting at the front, is that to the advantage or disadvantage of Max Verstappen given the current standings and lead?
“I consider the title fight to be largely over already, so it’s not very important what happens at the front in that regard anyway. But if Mercedes interferes, it will be worse for Leclerc. He has to take as many points as possible, And that becomes more difficult when he also has to beat two Mercedes.”
Koen: Should the Ferrari team boss worry about his own position?
“Binotto deserves some credit, because he has done a good job with the car himself this year in terms of managing his team. But he is also ultimately responsible for the strategic department and has to do something. If he doesn’t intervene, it could be him.” own head too.”
Bussink: You haven’t heard much about porpoising lately – also from the drivers. How is that possible?
“It has a bit to do with the tracks that are driven, we’ve had a few now where it’s less severe due to fewer bumps or shorter straights. It’s not gone yet, certainly not. But teams are also learning better and better.” to deal with it and avoid the worst forms. So it’s just playing a smaller and smaller role.”
Lubbers: I’m on vacation and couldn’t watch. Do I have to watch this race again?
“Absolute.”
Berg: Sainz at one point ignored an order to pit. With that he extended his medium stint and indirectly shortened his stint on red. To what extent can we say that he secured his own fourth place?
“He was right on his side, and in any case passed his own teammate. So in that sense he certainly secured his own fourth place.”
Groothof: How can you explain the difference in speed per race? In Austria Ferrari was quite the boss, here they had a lot of trouble.
“That has to do with many factors. The speed in Austria could be explained because they could handle the tires very well themselves and Red Bull did not. In addition, Red Bull, they thought afterwards, did not have the right thing “package‘ in Austria, which seems to revolve mainly around the rear wing. It was quite large, and that cost Verstappen top speed that he can often rely on this season.”
“The problem in Hungary for Ferrari was mainly in the temperature. The car still functioned excellently on Friday, but the temperature was 15 degrees lower on Sunday. As a result, they suffered from understeer, also because they said they had not reacted enough to this change. Red Bull and Mercedes would have done this.”
Vanlieren: What is the conclusion regarding the Aston Martin wing? Is this allowed? Is it useful?
“It is allowed under the current rules. Whether it is useful remains to be seen. Aston Martin was not very good in terms of performance in Hungary, but the lap times in the training sessions and the race were secretly quite good. That is why Vettel also drove into the points To be continued. The competition is watching and counting carefully.”