2023 Hungarian Grand Prix Practice

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Although FP1 was disrupted by some rain and red flags, we had a decent day. This is the first of the ATA events, which has led to some alternative run plans amongst the teams, but we are happy with what we chose to do, and we will see tomorrow how this plays out.

Both drivers were mostly happy with their cars. However, we will make some changes overnight as we look to stay ahead of the changing track conditions.

The car is a lot better here than it was last year, but the Hungaroring still doesn’t suit the natural strengths of the FW45. We will push as hard as possible tomorrow and aim to use the new qualifying format to help us achieve a good result. The race will be challenging, but with overtaking usually difficult here, any places that we can make tomorrow will help us achieve a strong result on Sunday.

Alex Albon: It was a good day for us with the car feeling okay out there, and it being possible to get it into a pretty decent window. It does highlight that it’s not a track that really suits us so even though the car felt good, relative to our rivals, we’re still lacking a bit of pace which is to be expected. However, thinking about it from last year, the car is a good improvement, but we still need to do a bit more for tomorrow if we want to get into Q2.

Logan Sargeant: It’s been a disjointed first day here in Budapest with mixed conditions between FP1 and FP2. The car is in a decent window but there’s plenty to find ahead of tomorrow and plenty of work to do overnight.