(Motorsport-Total.com) – At first glance, Ferrari had an impressive practice day at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Scuderia dominated both Friday sessions with a lead of about half a second over the closest pursuers. But appearances are deceiving, because in reality, the balance of power seems much closer than the standings suggest.
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The long runs with a high fuel load at the end of the second free practice session painted a completely different picture. World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who had to abandon his soft qualifying simulation after a red flag and an error on his second attempt, completed by far the strongest long runs in the entire field.
Adjusted for different stint lengths and tire compounds, the Italian was on average 0.46 seconds per lap ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, whose race simulation was anything but consistent.
Where has Ferrari’s race pace gone?
The big question now is: Why did Ferrari perform so strongly over a single fast lap, while hardly anything came together in the long run? The Scuderia will address precisely this question in the debriefings to optimally adjust the setup for the remainder of the race weekend.
Because Lewis Hamilton’s long run (+0.67) was also by no means convincing. Both McLaren driver Lando Norris (+0.52) and George Russell in the second Mercedes (+0.61) were faster over the distance.
The picture looked a bit different in the first free practice session: there, Hamilton’s long run was about four tenths of a second per lap faster than George Russell’s. However, the actual Mercedes benchmark in Hungary again seems to be Kimi Antonelli, who skipped the first practice and left the cockpit to Frederik Vesti.
Like Ferrari: Is the Red Bull only fast for one lap?
A similar picture emerged at Red Bull. Max Verstappen finished second in the first practice and fourth in the second practice, but with a lot of weight in the tank, not much came together for the Bulls either.
Isack Hadjar lost an average of 0.79 seconds per lap to Antonelli in the long run, and teammate Max Verstappen even 0.82 seconds. Unlike Ferrari, however, the long runs in the first practice also offered little hope for strong race pace.
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Red Bull could therefore also be forced to focus the setup more on race performance from Saturday onwards – even though the Hungaroring is considered extremely difficult for overtaking and qualifying traditionally holds particular importance.
How much does Aston Martin’s update bring?
A special focus on Friday was also on Aston Martin. The team had traveled to Hungary with an extensive update package – hoping to at least shed the red lantern and regain connection to the midfield.
However, according to initial findings, the hoped-for big step forward seems to have failed to materialize. This is also due to the fact that the gap to the competition was already enormous. In the long runs of the second practice, Fernando Alonso was the second weakest driver in the field with a deficit of 3.42 seconds per lap.
At least he was able to leave Valtteri Bottas (+3.93) behind. However, several seconds are still missing to the front midfield. The biggest problem remains top speed: especially in the first sector, Aston Martin loses too much time to the competition on the longer straights.
Midfield: Audi, Racing Bulls and then nothing for a long time?
Nico Hülkenberg (+1.25) once again impressed with strong long-run pace on Friday – as he has in previous race weekends. However, the German has not yet scored any points.
The most important competitor in Budapest is likely to be Racing Bulls (+1.46). Alpine (+2.16), on the other hand, seems to be increasingly losing ground in the development race.
Haas (+1.94) presented a solid, if not outstanding, long-run performance. Friday was significantly more difficult for Williams (+3.01): The traditional team is currently much closer to Cadillac and Aston Martin than within striking distance of the top 10.
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