Not a good start for the Haas Formula 1 team in the Hungarian Grand Prix: When Nico Hülkenberg was asked after the two practice sessions on Friday that his pace was constant in the long run, he replies: “But consistently too slow!”
“It depends on who you compare it to, but many other teams had more pace, I think the long run didn’t look great,” Hulkenberg said clearly. And indeed, the data shows that Haas ran the slowest long runs on Friday.
In the timesheets, the German looked a lot better with sixth place, at least on one fast lap. But here, too, Hülkenberg puts it into perspective and emphasizes: “Of course it doesn’t make sense that Red Bull is somewhere behind. It doesn’t look normal and right.”
Mercedes is also much further behind than you would actually expect. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez only finished eleventh and 18th on Friday, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell only 16th and 20th.
“I think things will change overnight and tomorrow,” Hülkenberg predicts. The German was allowed to test the new underbody for the VF-23 on Friday. “I drove it today, the other car didn’t,” he reports.
“The first feedback was that he did what he was supposed to do. But of course we need further analysis,” he emphasizes. Teammate Kevin Magnussen should also get the update on Saturday. The Dane finished on P15 on Friday.
One reason for the somewhat mixed field was the new tire rule that will be tested this weekend. All drivers have only eleven sets of tires available in Budapest. Usually there are 13. Hulkenberg explains that his program in FT2 was “more or less normal”.
Teammate Magnussen, on the other hand, emphasizes that his Friday was “restricted” because of the new rule. When asked if he would like this format for all races, he replies: “No, I don’t think so.”
Because then, in his opinion, you should also reduce the total number of sessions. If there are fewer sets of tyres, then “maybe just one practice session or two” would be sufficient, according to the Dane. World champion Max Verstappen made a similar statement.
Incidentally, Haas team boss Günther Steiner is not too unhappy with Friday and emphasizes: “All in all [sind wir] not dissatisfied. We want to see what we can take away for tomorrow.”