Ferrari dominated at the Hungaroring on Friday with Charles Leclerc and Sainz finishing second in practice in first and third place respectively, separated by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen doubted Red Bull could match Ferrari if things remained dry in Budapest, but the rain is expected to impact Saturday’s race.
Sainz explained how Ferrari opted to test various tuning solutions in Friday’s practice in anticipation of the wet weather, helping the team weed out some bad options.
“Today was a good day to test some things out as the conditions were very stable throughout the day,” Sainz said after Friday night’s practice.
“We have definitely managed to remove some doubts about the direction to follow throughout the weekend.
“It was a very interesting Friday, let’s call it a test day, and for tomorrow and Sunday we’ll put in whatever we think is more competitive.”
Sainz arrived in Hungary looking to pick up his pace last weekend in France which saw him impress in practice and qualifying before recovering from a back-of-the-grid engine penalty to finish fifth.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42, Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
The Spaniard said he was “very comfortable and very happy” with the balance of the car from the start of the first test in Hungary, to then take different routes of configuration in the second session and gain recoil.
“You always feel like there are things to improve and things to find,” Sainz added.
“We tried several different set-up directions in FP2 which caused us to lose a bit of confidence and performance, but we know exactly why.
“For tomorrow and Sunday we think we can get back to where we were in FP1 and be more competitive again.”
Leclerc described his Friday as “very productive” after finishing FP2 two-tenths of a second behind the peloton.
“We changed a lot of things on the car from my side,” he said. “I think FP1 was quite tricky, FP2 we took the right road, so confident that we did the right job for Sunday.”
Ferrari dominated at the Hungaroring on Friday with Charles Leclerc and Sainz finishing second in practice in first and third place respectively, separated by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen doubted Red Bull could match Ferrari if things remained dry in Budapest, but the rain is expected to impact Saturday’s race.
Sainz explained how Ferrari opted to test various tuning solutions in Friday’s practice in anticipation of the wet weather, helping the team weed out some bad options.
“Today was a good day to test some things out as the conditions were very stable throughout the day,” Sainz said after Friday night’s practice.
“We have definitely managed to remove some doubts about the direction to follow throughout the weekend.
“It was a very interesting Friday, let’s call it a test day, and for tomorrow and Sunday we’ll put in whatever we think is more competitive.”
Sainz arrived in Hungary looking to pick up his pace last weekend in France which saw him impress in practice and qualifying before recovering from a back-of-the-grid engine penalty to finish fifth.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42, Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
The Spaniard said he was “very comfortable and very happy” with the balance of the car from the start of the first test in Hungary, to then take different routes of configuration in the second session and gain recoil.
“You always feel like there are things to improve and things to find,” Sainz added.
“We tried several different set-up directions in FP2 which caused us to lose a bit of confidence and performance, but we know exactly why.
“For tomorrow and Sunday we think we can get back to where we were in FP1 and be more competitive again.”
Leclerc described his Friday as “very productive” after finishing FP2 two-tenths of a second behind the peloton.
“We changed a lot of things on the car from my side,” he said. “I think FP1 was quite tricky, FP2 we took the right road, so confident that we did the right job for Sunday.”