Charles Leclerc paced the field for a strong P2 effort at the Hungaroring. (Photo: Scuderia Ferrari)
MOGYORÓD, Hungary – Formula 1 returns to racing after a suspenseful British Grand Prix two weeks prior at the Hungaroring.
With a new race, a few changes lead to a newish look for F1 for the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. First up, Daniel Ricciardo returns to the F1 grid with AlphaTauri replacing the rookie Nyck De Vries just 10 races into the season. Next, team upgrades are highlighted with Red Bull’s new side pod design. Finally, a new qualifying format in which teams will be forced to use only the Hard compound tires in the first round of qualifying, the Medium compound in the second round, and the Soft compound for the third round of qualifying.
So with the stage set, it was time for the Friday sessions to begin. Red Bull, hoping to show off their new design, had all of their plans halted as Sergio Perez dipped his tires going wide in Turn 5 and going off track and into the barriers, thus quickly ending his time in the session. Shortly after that, for the sixth racing weekend in a row, Mother Nature made an appearance and turned the session into a rainy weather tire session.
With the swap from dry tires to Intermediate compound tires, multiple drivers and teams decided to forgo making any laps. Ricciardo didn’t set a lap time joining Max Verstappen, along with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, with Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc grins after a sensational effort in P2 for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. (Photo: Scuderia Ferrari)
For those who made laps, the other Mercedes of George Russell set the field in the wet conditions. Following him, after a stellar weekend at Silverstone, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri came in second. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, McLaren’s Lando Norris, and the other Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso finished out the Top 5.
With the rain, there was a bit of the expected wet track chaos. Sainz found himself beached on some curbing in Turn 3 in the early moments of the rain, putting an early end to his session. Williams’ Logan Sargeant went for a bit of an off-track excursion while the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda found the barrier and damaged his front wing.
The rain cleared out and the track became dry by the time the second practice session of the day. Once again, the standings were a bit jumbled up as teams attempted to try out new upgrades while taking into account the tire allocation for the weekend. A split between using low-fuel runs on soft tires and running longer stints to gather data.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the second session with the McLaren of Norris following behind with the Alpines of Gasly and Ocon sandwiching the AlphaTauri of Tsunoda. Further down the order, Verstappen got as fast as 11th fastest, however, he did not make a run on soft tires with a low-fuel load. The same could be said for the Mercedes pair of Russell and Hamilton.
It is now time to wait before the Saturday sessions are upon the paddock and viewers. Questions of how the new qualifying rules being tested will change how the session works and also how much Red Bull has been holding back will be seen once the track turns hot again for the third practice session on Saturday.
