In the time trial of the Hungarian GP, a new juju will be tried again.
Haas boss Günther Steiner has to think about the use of PIrelli tires from a new angle. PDO
The F1 series always likes to adjust the program of the GP weekend a little.
The purpose is, of course, to maintain the interest of the sport, and to open up winning opportunities for others as well For Max Verstappen.
On Saturday, a completely new time trial will be seen at the Hungaroring. This time, the change is fairly radical, because in addition to reducing the number of tires, each time trial section has its own rubber hardness.
In other words, the first part of the time trial is pulled through with hard tires. In the second, only medium tires can be used, and the last section is again the realm of soft tires, as usual.
The change was already visible in Friday’s practice, because instead of the usual 13 sets of tires, Pirelli offers drivers in Hungary only 11 sets. This, in turn, means that stables have to think about the use of tires from a completely new basis. There are now only four sets of soft, four medium and three sets of hard tires available.
Drivers who make it to the last part of the time trial will get two more sets of soft tires.
Ferrari in trouble?
The original idea was, of course, to offer the spectators something new to be excited about, but the change might hit Ferrari and Aston Martin the hardest. Neither of them has made a reputation for being able to get a hard tire to warm up quickly. In other words, they may struggle to make it through even the first clipper in Q3.
This same rule modification was supposed to be tried already in the spring in Imola, but then the torrential rains that disciplined the province of Emilia-Romagna and the floods that followed prevented the organization of the entire GP weekend.
One of the hottest and sweatiest races of the entire F1 calendar has traditionally been held in Hungary. On Friday, a few rain clouds hung over the capital of Hungary.
Naturally, if the track were wet on Saturday, the time trial would have to be moved forward again.
At first glance, the change does not seem dramatic, but of course it has already caused headaches within the F1 teams.
– Of course it increases the amount of the challenge. Usually in qualifying we have only focused on getting the best possible lap time on the soft tire, the leading race strategist of the Mercedes team Joseph McMillan shaped.
Never before has a hard tire been used in a time trial. However, Pirelli has made its use as easy as possible.
– Three of the softest tire compounds are available here. In other words, the hard tire in use here corresponds to last year’s medium, McMillan continued.
He also suspected that the soft tire is far too soft for Sunday’s race. With these prospects, its use would only be limited to the last part of Saturday’s time trial.