Where Ferrari really stands after topping first Hungarian GP practice

Ferrari has started Formula 1’s 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix on the front foot, with Carlos Sainz setting the pace in first practice.

After an abysmal recent run stretching back to June’s Canadian GP, Ferrari has brought a modified floor to Budapest with the aim of alleviating bouncing problems at high speed and low ride heights.

The lower-speed nature of the Hungaroring, compared to Silverstone and Barcelona - where bouncing has been most problematic and forced Ferrari into reverting on aerodynamic upgrades - will no doubt be helping.

Sainz’s 1m18.713s best lap of the session, set on the soft C5 compound Pirelli, seemed to achieve the right balance between speed-sapping understeer at the start of the lap utilised to protect the rear tyres from overheating too much through the looping final sector.

With ambient temperatures climbing towards 32C and a track temperature of 60C, the tyres are under extreme stress and therefore will favour an understeer balance (and driving style) that protects those rears as far as possible.

This compromise probably suits Sainz a little better than Charles Leclerc, who was two tenths slower and third overall in FP1.

SOFT TYRE RANKING

1. Sainz 1m18.713s
2. Verstappen 1m18.989s
3. Leclerc 1m19.011s
4. Russell 1m19.137s
5. Zhou 1m19.180s
6. Norris 1m19.211s
7. Piastri 1m19.249s
8. Tsunoda 1m19.260s
9. Stroll 1m19.265s
10. Hamilton 1m19.287s
11. Perez 1m19.440s
12. Ricciardo 1m19.578s
13. Alonso 1m19.686s
14. Albon 1m19.794s
15. Bottas 1m19.804s
16. Sargeant 1m19.885s
17. Gasly 1m19.976s
18. Ocon 1m20.023s
19. Magnussen 1m20.295s
20. Bearman 1m20.371s

TWO VERY DIFFERENT RED BULLS

Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was running in heavily modified specification, fitted with a more traditional style of engine cover/cooling arrangement, shorn of the high ‘cannon’ shoulders utilised on the RB20 originally.

The aim is to give better aero efficiency at low speed, presumably at a cost to high-speed performance. Sergio Perez ran his car in Silverstone-spec bodywork, which will give the team back-to-back comparative data.

Verstappen was 0.276s down on Sainz in FP1, but the impressive thing is that Verstappen set that time on a set of soft tyres he’d already completed four flying laps on earlier in the session.

So although the track was in similar condition for the best runs of both the Ferraris and the quickest Red Bull, the Ferraris undoubtedly had a tyre advantage thanks to running the hard compound for the first part of the session and setting their quickest times when those softs were at their best.

Perez ran with aero sensors on his car initially, then spent a long duration in the garage. He eventually chipped away at his lap times, finishing just under half a second adrift of Verstappen’s best - though each of their final flying laps on a similarly-aged set of softs converged a bit more.

Verstappen’s final flier was a 1m19.202s; Perez’s a 1m19.440s.

MERCEDES IN THE MIX

Mercedes appears to be in the ballpark again. George Russell was quicker than Lewis Hamilton on both the medium and the soft compound - and the Mercedes both set their best soft times slightly earlier than the other frontrunners.

That five other cars were able to slot into the 0.150s gap between the two Mercedes - including both McLarens - shows how tight the field spread is around this circuit.

Zhou Guanyu’s time, coming in the older-specification Sauber, was particularly eyebrow-raising - though he did go very well here in 2023.

The RB is looking relatively better off now the circuit corner-profile is low/medium-speed biased, rather than high-speed.

Both Aston Martin drivers were unhappy with their car balance, but Lance Stroll was significantly faster in the Silverstone-spec car compared to Fernando Alonso in the heavily-upgraded version. Both are expected to use the latest parts in FP2.

Such a hot track is likely to be particularly challenging for Williams - Alex Albon was only 14th quickest in FP1 - while the Hungaroring's corner profiles likely expose the key weakness of the Haas at medium speed.

The Alpine also appears to be more problematic here than it was looking in Spain and Austria.