Hungaroring - Team reaction after Free practices 1 & 2

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Jaime Alguersuari - 1.24.182 - P16: “It was a busy day, in which I did a lot of laps, especially in the
morning, when I completed the most of any driver. We concentrated on car
set-up for the race, looking at solutions to improve its pace. It is not
so clear where we stand just yet, although I think we can expect
qualifying to be tough again, while in the race we can be better. I
tried both types of tyre, but I do not feel I have a clear picture of
the different qualities of the two of them. I think on Sunday, the
behaviour of the Supersoft will be one of the key elements that decides
what sort of race we can have.”

Sebastian Buemi - 1.24.878 - P18: “We ran a different strategy to normal in terms of our workprogramme, running the Supersoft tyre right from the morning session. I was not very happy with the handling of the car at first and, during the day we made some quite drastic changes to the set-up. Towards the end of the afternoon, I was getting near the limit, so I think the next step is to go back very slightly on these set-up changes to do better tomorrow. In terms of performance, I would say we are in a similar position to
where we were at the last two races, which means we lack a little bit of
pace. It was good that the track conditions did not seem to change much
over the day, which will make it easier for us to analyse the data we
have gathered.”

Laurent Mekies (Chief Engineer):
“Both drivers completed their programme for the day, Jaime ahead of
schedule which is why he stopped early this afternoon. We ran the day
slightly differently to many Fridays, already doing long runs in the
morning session, as we were concerned there was a chance of rain in the
afternoon. We focussed mainly on race set-up, doing long runs with both
tyre compounds, so that we can now aim to have a good race pace for
Sunday. Both the Supersoft and Soft tyres behaved well, possibly aided
by the relatively low ambient temperature today and I think this will
mean we could see various different strategies applied during the race.
Today, the track remained quite stable compared to previous Fridays
here, so I do not expect too many surprises from that point of view
tomorrow or Sunday.”

Sauber Ferrari

The Sauber F1 Team enjoyed a trouble free and dry first day of practice ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. With the Sauber C30-Ferrari being virtually unchanged since last Sunday’s race at the Nürburgring, both drivers focused on set-up work and tyre evaluation. Kamui Kobayashi came in 11th in both 90-minutes sessions, Sergio Pérez was 9th and 12th respectively.

Kamui Kobayashi - 1.23.030 - P11: ”Although we look better than we did at the Nürburgring, I have the feeling it will be tough to catch the Force India cars, but we want to get in front of them in tomorrow’s qualifying. The balance of my car is not really brilliant yet, but I think we can improve that. For me the soft tyre is the difficult one up to now, so I prefer the super-soft.“

Sergio Perez - 1.23.399 - P12: “I think we have a better pace here than we had recently at the Nürburgring, and I also believe the ambient temperatures, which are supposed to get higher, will help us to do a better qualifying as it is crucial to get the super-soft tyres to work then. On the long runs I had degradation with both compounds, but with the soft the balance was better compared to the super-soft. For me the soft tyres were also more consistent than the super-soft. I believe it will become quite an interesting weekend for all of us in regard to the tyres.”

James Key, Technical Director:
“It was a reasonably productive day. The weather conditions changed as the day progressed. We expected rain this afternoon, and in the end it was quite the reverse. The track temperatures went up to what probably will be more relevant in relation to what we expect tomorrow and on Sunday, so it was a useful session in that respect. We’ve been working pretty much the whole day on the set-up of the cars, and we found several good directions from what we did both in the morning and afternoon. We’ve got some work to do in the middle sector just to get the balance a little bit better. We collected a lot of data, and we just have to continue to work hard over night to make more progress.”

Lotus Renault

Jarno Trulli - 1.24.994 - P19:"I’m very happy today. I want to thank the whole team, everyone at the factory and in the race team because they have all been patient with me and have worked hard to give me the new power steering system and a car that I can really feel. As soon as I pulled out this morning it felt so much better than before so today I’ve been able to start rebuilding my confidence in the car, and working on all the little changes and improvements that help me to find a set-up I can really work with. It’s been a really positive day and for that my thanks go to everyone in the team."

Heikki Kovalainen - 1.25.447 - P20: "It feels like we have taken a step forward with the updates we’ve brought to the back end of the car but I still need to work on finding a balance I’m happy with. We tried a few different set-up options today but I couldn’t really find the best solution on either compounds, but we’ve completed a lot of mileage so I’m sure we’ll find the right way forward tomorrow."

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "A good Friday for the team. We have completed a very decent number of laps and worked through all the engine maps we will need to use here. Driveability is the key to maximising engine performance at this circuit and with the amount of data we have generated today on both cars I am sure we can find more time for qualification tomorrow for both Jarno and Heikki."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "That was one of the best Fridays we have had this year. We have made some modifications to the diffuser and those changes have definitely worked, and with Jarno immediately telling us the new power steering system is working exactly as we wanted it to we have been able to push closer to the cars ahead than we have for a while. On Heikki’s car we need to work on finding him a balance he is happy with and we will see how we have got on with that tomorrow, but overall this has been a very positive Friday."

Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer: "I am very pleased with today’s work across the whole team. Back at the factory we have put in a lot of hours on the updates we have brought here, both on the diffuser and the new steering system, and it is clear from both drivers’ laptimes that those efforts have closed the gap to the teams ahead more than we have seen for several races. Jarno in particular has been able to push today and he reported that as his confidence increases he will be able to find more time, so I think quali tomorrow could be very interesting."

HRT Cosworth

Vitantonio Liuzzi and Daniel Ricciardo finished in 23th and 24th places respectively after today’s first free practice sessions for the Eni Hungarian Grand Prix, the 850th world championship event taking place in Hungary this weekend. During the two free practice sessions Liuzzi and Ricciardo covered 101 laps.

Daniel Ricciardo - 1.27.730 - P23: “It was ok this morning, I was just feeling my way into it. There was a bit to learn for myself but also the car was not to my liking so it was a combination of me getting into it and finding a good balance between the car and myself. We went a step closer this afternoon with that but not enough. We can improve with the prime tyre. As for the option, it was my first time on super-softs and I liked the amount of grip you get from them. The balance is a bit closer to what we need but we still have some work to do with the primes, we’ll try and solve it for tomorrow”.

Vitantonio Liuzzi - 1.28.255 - P24: “In the morning I was very happy with the car, which was responding really well. We had good pace and understood a few things about the setup. Then we changed a few things for the afternoon but it didn’t work, so we put everything back to how it was. However the car wasn’t reacting like in the morning. We had some problems with the rear end which caused over steering. Now we have to understand why this occurred and work hard to try and get things right for tomorrow”.

Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “HRT F1 made good progress in the two ninety minutes free practice sessions. Neither Vitantonio Liuzzi nor Daniel Ricciardo encountered any problems in the first session and could continue to work through the team program in the second session. The track was dirty this morning, so the team decided to experiment and try a few things, with the intention of doing more intensive set-up work when the track had cleaned up this afternoon. The weather forecast looked unstable for the afternoon, so by precaution the team tested some components in the morning that they would normally test in the afternoon”.

Force India Mercedes

Paul di Resta - 1.22.835 - P9: “The morning was quite positive and we completed the programme and managed to learn a bit more about the package we ran at the Nurburgring last weekend. That set us up quite nicely for the afternoon when we did the usual performance runs and long runs to get data on the two tyres. It was good to get 40 laps in during the second session and it helped get me up to speed with the track, which is still quite new for me. The circuit was very green to begin with and tyre wear was high, but it was still consistent and improved quite a bit by the end of the day.”

Adrian Sutil - 1.22.981 - P10: “A fairly normal Friday for me and we did most of the things on the job list. I was struggling for grip a bit today, especially at the start of the session and I was having to fight the car. But I think most of that was due to the fact that the track was quite green today. We know it always gets better with each session so I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. In the afternoon the longs runs went well and gave us plenty of information on the soft and supersofts for the race.”

Nico Hulkenberg (VJM04/02) “I started my programme by trying out a different front wing concept to collect data on its characteristics. Then, we switched back to the usual set-up and I did a proper baseline run and the car felt pretty good straight away. I struggled a bit with brake warm-up today, but overall it was another good session and the soft tyre lasted pretty well for me.”

Dominic Harlow, Circuit Engineering Director:
"There were two themes to the programme today, aero development and tyre evaluation for the race. As usual Nico ran some development items in FP1, whilst Paul worked on some areas of the car we felt could be improved after the last race. In the afternoon, with rain showers popping up around us, we were fortunate to collect the tyre information as intended and now have to analyse that. The circuit grip was not high, and we expect to improve the balance a bit more before qualifying.”

Williams Cosworth

Rubens Barrichello - 1.23.379 - P13: We tested a lot of things today. We had to run without KERS in the
morning session because of a small problem but we reinstated it for the
afternoon and it was fine. The car has improved a little bit, but P13
isn’t where we want to be and it’s going to be tough to break into Q3
tomorrow. Our goal today was to focus on set-up for the race as I think
points are achievable here.

Pastor Maldonado - 1.24.181 - P15: We brought new parts to Hungary which we spent today testing. I was
trying out a new cooling system and I have an updated rear wing coming
tomorrow that was working well on the other car. I’ll be working hard
tonight with my engineers to improve the car. We’ve got plenty to do in
order to have a good race.

Sam Michael, Technical director: We tested different diffusers and a new rear wing with Rubens today
and new bodywork and a revised suspension system on Pastor’s car.
Although we had a KERS issue in P1, both cars will have KERS for
qualifying and we will have the new rear wing for Pastor’s car in time
for tomorrow’s last practice session.

Virgin Cosworth

The first two Free Practice sessions for the eleventh round of the 2011
Formula One season took place today at the Hungaroring in Budapest.

After an early installation lap, both Timo Glock and Jérôme
D’Ambrosio spent part of the morning session conducting aero tests. It
wasn’t until halfway through the session that Timo established his first
timed lap, while Jérôme experienced a steering set-up issue which
meant that he was only able to set a time in the last 15 minutes. From
then on they were able to focus on the car set-up for the weekend ahead.
Timo completed 30 laps and Jérôme, 22.

In the afternoon, and with the track providing more grip than in the
first session, the drivers continued to complete their programme, using
the data gathered in the morning session to improve the overall
performance of the car. Timo added another 33 laps to his tally while
Jérôme completed 28 laps.

Timo Glock - 1.26.823 - P21: "This morning was all about aero runs, which is always useful as we are
able to collect plenty of data. In the afternoon we worked on the set-up
and on some ideas for tomorrow. The main issue at the moment is the
tyres, as they are proving to be quite difficult to handle this week, so
we will have to have a good look before tomorrow."

Jerome D’Ambrosio - 1.27.261 - P22: "It was a pretty good Friday today. We had some useful testing this
afternoon and it was good that we didn’t see any of the rain that we
were expecting. This morning we didn’t really work on set-up and instead
I concentrated on collecting aero data, but this afternoon we had a good
programme and we’ll have a lot of data to go through tonight. Overall it
was a good day so let’s see what tomorrow brings."

John Booth, Team Principal: "It’s been a busy Friday for us. In the morning we completed plenty of
pre-planned aero tests on both cars. Unfortunately, Jérôme’s changes
took longer than expected and he also had a small issue with the set-up
of his steering, but in general it was a positive first session. In the
afternoon fortunately the weather remained dry and we were able to
continue the set-up work on the two cars. At times in the session, we
have had the two cars set up quite differently and we need to analyse
carefully the data gathered in order to decide how we approach tomorrow.
This weekend the tyres are going to play a big part and this will also
influence the decisions we take. It’s clear that our pace is not quite
what we’ve been used to for the last few races, so we need to try to add
some significant performance to the cars overnight."

Red Bull Renault

Mark Webber - 1.21.508 - P4: "I made a mistake this morning when I got on the damp kerb. I’ve seen a few of those over the last few years, but drivers still don’t learn - we still go out there and push! I clipped the ’turf and hit the barrier, e but fortunately only the front wing was damaged. We recovered pretty well this afternoon and got a lot of mileage in. The car ran well and we have lots of info to go through tonight. The tricky thing is the tyres. Ferrari and McLaren are certainly performing well, as they have done at the last few races – it’s no big surprise that they are doing decent lap times and it’s a race between all of us."

Sebastian Vettel - 1.21.549 - P5: "I felt a little bit better in the car, but it’s not like last year, it seems very tight and McLaren and Ferrari are quick. I think we need to raise our game if we want to be at the front. I am not sure if KERS and DRS will have such a big effect this weekend, but I think the new tyres will be a major factor. I’ve just stepped out of the car, so haven’t seen what the others did – I think they will be the most important thing to look out for, in terms of managing the tyres for one lap, but equally for getting the most out of them for a whole stint. It will be a tough one. The bandage on my hand? It’s just a little thing, but you know how it goes with us men, we like to make a big fuss!"

Renault

Nick, Vitaly and Bruno all took their turns behind the wheel of the R31 in mixed weather conditions at the Hungaroring to kick off the Hungarian
Grand Prix.

Alan Permane, Chief Engineer: We conducted aerodynamic back to back evaluations of parts in the morning. We evaluated the soft and super soft Pirelli tyres. The track was very green to begin with and all three drivers complained of low grip and general poor balance, with a main problem of an unstable rear end. We have work to do to cure the oversteer we experienced in both sessions. We had a successful morning with Bruno, especially as he had only one session and one set of tyres to use – he didn’t put a foot wrong.

Nick Heidfeld - 1.23.861 - P14: "As I only drove in the second session, we tried to make full use of this time and we made good progress with the car. We initially had a lot of oversteer but we made changes which rectified this. We’re heading in the right direction but there is still time to be found from the set-up. The grip level from the circuit seems quite low and there is quite a big difference between the tyres, so tomorrow will be interesting."

Vitaly Petrov - 1.24.546 - P17: "We had some difficulties with the car, because the floor and rear wing were not performing efficiently. As a result, we lost some time and a chance to do more running, as we spent a lot of time fixing the problem. This was also the reason for the lack of grip we experienced out there. We also struggled to get sufficient temperature into the soft tyres. That said, we managed some good track time and completed quite a few laps, and we’ll now look ahead to tomorrow to improve on this and give us a good shot come Sunday."

Bruno Senna: "It was a great session for me in the car this morning; I learnt more about the car, and the evolution of it. I would have liked to have run on another set of tyres to get in a quicker lap time but it was still a great experience and very beneficial. Ideally, I would like to have achieved a faster time, but I had a productive time out there. I’m glad the weather held out as it allowed me to take what I wanted from the 90 minutes. It was a fantastic opportunity and I enjoyed every moment, no doubt about it."

Mercedes

Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher completed the first two practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix today at the Hungaroring circuit just outside of Budapest.

— Nico and Michael completed 114 laps in total, ending the two sessions in seventh and eighth places respectively.

— The focus today was on evaluating the Pirelli soft and super soft tyres around the tight and twisty Hungaroring layout.

— Two productive sessions saw the team collect plenty of data with further dry running of the recent new developments.

Nico Rosberg - 1.22.121 - P7: “This circuit is really challenging, and it’s very satisfying when you get your laps together cleanly around here. We had two decent sessions and the short and the long runs on the super softs were reasonable. However there is still a lot of work to do to improve our package for qualifying and look at how to manage the tyre degradation. It’s interesting to see how the top six positions are changing from race to race, and we’ll keep pushing to get even closer to, and maybe into, that group.”

Michael Schumacher - 1.22.440 - P8: “Coming to the second race of a back-to-back series means that you are not able to do a great deal to the car between the two weekends so the practice sessions today went pretty much according to our expectations. We do have the developments from the last couple of races to work with but they obviously do not mean we can make up some positions. We will certainly try to make the best of what we have in our hands for qualifying tomorrow and the race on Sunday.”

Ross Brawn: “We had two reasonable sessions today with a lot of mileage achieved on both cars. It’s clear that the tyres are degrading a fair amount with the track in its current state so we have gathered lots of good information on this to work with overnight. Having such a short time between this race and Germany last weekend, there are no further major developments on the car so we are focusing on getting the best from our recent upgrades and improving their performance.”

Norbert Haug: “We did a lot of laps today, and only both Ferraris achieved a higher mileage during both sessions amongst the top eight placed cars. We learnt a great deal as well which we now will try to translate into a more consistent performance during the race stints on Sunday. Our single lap performance looks quite decent, taking into account our current level of performance, and the fact that the layout of this track is certainly one of the most challenging ones for the current concept of our car. Tomorrow it will be about optimising what we have learned today in order to be in our best possible form for the race on Sunday.”

McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton - 1.21.018 - P1: "It’s a great feeling to start the weekend on a high. We had a much
smoother Friday here than we did at the Nurburgring, so I’m pretty
happy. The car looks reasonably competitive, given the balance and the
fuel load that we had. It’s important not to read too much into Fridays, though. The track
may be different tomorrow, as may the temperatures. Having said that, I
think we’ve probably got about the same pace as we had in Germany, which
is encouraging. The guys have been pushing very, very hard back at the factory. We’ve
got a couple of upgrades here this weekend and it’s a great achievement
by everyone to have got them here in such a short space of time."

Jenson Button - 1.21.322 - P3: "A trouble-free day, which is nice. We managed a lot of good runs and
did a lot of useful set-up work, so it was a good day. I’m very happy
with the direction we’ve taken with the car. We’re strong in the first and last sectors. I’m quickest in the first
sector and Lewis is fastest in the last. If we can put it all together,
we’ll be looking pretty good. I enjoy driving at the Hungaroring. With a few more set-up tweaks, I
think we can be competitive. I hope to challenge for victory, but I’m
not the only driver thinking that. Ferrari and Red Bull will also be
looking to have good weekends, but that’s great for Formula 1."

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: "We’ve had a pretty straightforward day. It’s good to see Lewis topping
the time sheets, and both drivers have been pretty competitive on their
long runs. There’s a huge amount of evolution in the track here, from Friday
morning through to Saturday morning. It only therefore starts becoming
representative on Friday afternoon, so there are still some
question-marks. But it’s definitely a better feeling to go back to the hotel on a
Friday night at the top of the timesheets rather than in the middle
somewhere. So far, so good."

Ferrari

Almost a whole Grand Prix distance for both of the Scuderia Ferrari drivers over the course of the first day of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. Fernando was third fastest this morning and second in the afternoon, completing a total of 69 laps, four more than Felipe Massa, who finished sixth in both sessions.

Fernando Alonso - 1.21.259 - P2: “First of all thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes on my thirtieth, especially to Bernie, who came along to wish me the best along with you journalists during the press meeting! It’s nice to celebrate here with Ferrari, a team I will definitely be with at least until I am thirty five…We finished the planned work programme and that’s always a positive start to a race weekend. Now we will analyse all the data gathered and make the best choices for qualifying and the race. I am pleased I was able to do so much running, especially from the point of view of studying the tyre degradation, which at this track is always a significant factor. The track is still very dirty, as is the norm for a Friday at the Hungaroring: however, we know it will improve each day and by Sunday afternoon, it will be much more rubbered in than today. We saw that McLaren looks very strong, as indeed it was last weekend. Now we must try and improve the car, especially in the third sector of the track, where we seem to be suffering more than most.”

Felipe Massa - 1.22.099 - P6: “We got through a lot of work, especially in terms of comparing the two Pirelli tyres. The first signs are that degradation is significant, both on the Prime and the Option, which will be a decisive factor when it comes to strategy. I think we will witness a very close contest between the usual three teams, Red Bull, McLaren and ourselves. It will be not be easy to get a useful grid position, but it will be very important to do so, because I think that, despite everything, overtaking at this track will still be very difficult. I was not able to do a quick time on my first lap with the Super Soft, because I ran wide at Turn 9, so today’s lap time is not totally representative of the potential at my disposal: the tyres degrade easily so you have to give it your best immediately. I told Fernando this morning, “you are getting old like me!” Joking apart, it’s an important day for him, so he gets all my best wishes again!”

Pat Fry: “As usual we had a packed programme to get through, including an evaluation of various configurations both on the aerodynamic front and in terms of the management of the exhaust gases. We concentrated principally on the updates to the 150º Italia in the morning and then in the afternoon, we switched more towards finding the best set-up on the car and on a comparison between the two types of tyre Pirelli has brought for this race. As you can imagine, there is nothing new under the sun: really just a Friday like so many others. The obvious consequence of that is it’s very hard to say where we are compared to our closest rivals. The only thing we can be sure of is that Red Bull and McLaren both seem very competitive, irrespective of the fuel levels they were running. Tyre degradation is more or less what we expected but we have to take into account that track conditions change a lot over the course of the weekend as the track rubbers in. Predictions? It will be a very close qualifying and even the race looks like being hard to read, especially as there could be various strategies implemented.”