26/07/2013
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg completed the first two practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring circuit just outside of Budapest today.
Today gave the first opportunity for the team to try the new Pirelli medium and soft tyre compounds for the first time. Lewis and Nico completed 70 and 68 laps of the 4.381km circuit respectively, almost two full race distances. The programme focused on tuning the balance and set-up of the car to the new tyres, with longer runs this afternoon.
Lewis Hamilton: We got a lot of laps in on the new tyres today which was positive and gives us a lot of information to look at and take into our programme for the weekend. We came into the weekend on the back foot a little without experiencing the new tyres. The balance feels different and we need to work on the right set up but we learned over the course of the day, made some changes and will make more for tomorrow. It's difficult to know how the weekend will go for us. Others look quick here but we can generally pull a bit more out in qualifying so let's see how tomorrow goes.
Nico Rosberg: That was a busy day for us and we learned a lot in the two practice sessions. We know that it's quite challenging for our car in these hot conditions and we also had to learn about the new tyres for the first time today. I'm pleased with the progress that we made today but some of the other teams look quick here so we have more work to do. Tyre overheating is still an issue but I'm confident that we will be able to find a good set up and hopefully achieve a decent result this weekend.
Ross Brawn: It was an interesting day as we were running the new tyres for the first time. It took us a while to find a good balance with the car but our long runs looked respectable this afternoon. Both drivers enjoyed trouble free running in the very hot conditions here in Budapest and we have lots of information and data to work with tonight.
Toto Wolff: A solid first day of the race weekend for us. The target was to do as many miles as possible and collect the maximum amount of information on the tyres, which we managed to do. That means we still have improvements we can make to tune the car balance and that will be our challenge tomorrow morning. There is now a busy evening ahead of us to find the right balance between qualifying and the race but we have made a decent start.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.