Racing Point beat their best 2019 lap time in only dry session so far

While debate over Renault’s protest against Racing Point continues at the Hungaroring, the pink team continues to show a remarkable step forward in performance compared to last year.

At this race 12 months ago neither of its cars got out of Q1. They were the only team all year to be beaten by Williams in a qualifying session, as Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll lost out to George Russell.

But 12 months on they lapped over half a second quicker in the only dry session so far, on a dusty, low-grip surface. No other team has got within six-tenths of a second of their best lap time from last year.

That includes Red Bull, who were nearly three seconds off their 2019 benchmark as they concentrated on development work in first practice. Rain in the afternoon completely obscured any picture of their potential.

However Max Verstappen’s verdict on their first day of running was: “Not so good.”

“[There’s] plenty to look into,” said last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix pole-winner. “Of course a little bit of a shame that it was raining in the second practice otherwise I think we already could have had a look. But a lot of work to do.”

Red Bull were widely expected to be the strongest challenger to Mercedes. The two black cars topped the times sheets again, Valtteri Bottas slightly shy of Lewis Hamilton, but confident he can make up the deficit.

“It seemed like we were in a good place,” he said. “Balance-wise myself, I was struggling quite a bit with understeer but that can be normally fixed. So I think not a bad start.”

McLaren, who starred in Austria, did not have a great Friday. “It’s weird,” said Carlos Sainz Jnr, concurring with his team mate’s assessment. “There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the car it’s just the lap time and the way they we made the tyres work, we were not switching them on the way we want to do.”

The inclement conditions which made hard work of reading the teams’ performance on Friday looks set to continue. Pierre Gasly, who hasn’t turned a dry lap yet, is hoping the rain returns.

“I would love a wet race,” he said. “I think tomorrow it seems to be slightly better than expected at the beginning of the weekend so I think we should get a dry quali. This morning for Danny [Kvyat] it was quite difficult for us on the dry. So let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

“But I think if it’s wet on Sunday, a wet start and drying conditions, it’s always more fun for us and also for you guys to watch. So I wouldn’t not mind that.”

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Combined practice times

Pos	Driver	Car	FP1	FP2	Total laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’16.003		37
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1’16.089	1’40.736	42
3	Sergio Perez	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’16.530	1’42.470	25
4	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’16.967	1’42.380	41
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1’17.200		29
6	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’17.238	1’40.464	38
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’17.404	1’43.725	39
8	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda	1’17.435	1’42.820	32
9	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1’17.523	1’46.000	31
10	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1’17.615		35
11	Carlos Sainz Jnr	McLaren-Renault	1’17.675	1’41.784	38
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’17.713		35
13	Alexander Albon	Red Bull-Honda	1’17.727		30
14	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1’17.890	1’43.335	41
15	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’17.969		33
16	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’18.292	1’47.422	42
17	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’18.425	1’44.411	39
18	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1’18.574		31
19	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’19.150		26
20	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda		1’42.588	7
21	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		1’43.471	16

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Teams’ progress vs 2019

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2020 Hungarian Grand Prix

• ‘Driver aids’ rule Haas broke with Hungary pit calls to be reviewed
• Ferrari did not sacrifice Vettel to help Leclerc – Binotto
• Di Resta to serve as McLaren’s ‘standby driver’ for Silverstone
• Pirelli: 2020 tyres teams rejected would have coped better with high Silverstone loads
• Ferrari wade into Racing Point legality row with letter to F1 and FIA

Browse all 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix articles