21/07/2023
NEWS STORY
Yuki Tsunoda: "I'm sure other teams didn't show their full potential so it's hard to know our position compared to the rest of the field, but so far, I'm happy how the sessions went today.
"Hungary is hard on tyres, especially on the C5 soft tyre compound we're using this weekend, but it allowed us to gather more data about the car, where I felt confident with the consistent balance throughout the long runs. We tried the medium compound, but because the track was cooler than what we're expecting on Sunday, we feel it isn't representative. Overall, the step I felt going from the medium to the soft compound was a big, positive one compared to the season so far."
Daniel Ricciardo: "I think the position isn't too relevant at the moment. Today was more about feeling where I'm at with the car. Obviously, there's a lot of outside attention, but as soon as I put the helmet on and got in the car, it felt familiar, like I had never left. Obviously, this morning we didn't get anything except one lap in the dry, but this afternoon, the car felt ok and not too bad. I felt comfortable quite quickly and started to feel the limit of the car. Tomorrow I'll get a bit more out of me, and there's for sure some things about the car that we can improve on. We'll do a bit of work tonight, but nothing crazy. Right now, I'm optimistic. Yuki had a good day, so if we put it all together tomorrow, we can do ok."
Jonathan Eddolls (Chief Race Engineer): "It's been great to welcome Daniel back to the team, and we've all been excited to get to work with him trackside. We had a good plan to maximise the running with him today, get him comfortable with the car and get his feedback on the handling characteristics, but the conditions in FP1 hampered that. We managed to get a few sectors together before the rain came, but we couldn't complete a timed lap. The rain intensity increased, and eventually, the conditions were wet enough for the intermediate compound, where we struggled with overall grip and to warm up the tyres. FP2 was fully dry, so we were able to recover the plans, with both drivers completing short runs on the medium and soft tyre, before the usual long runs for race preparation. Yuki's lap on the soft compound was clean and looked very competitive, but with the ATA weekend, the focus will be on optimising the hard and then medium short-run performance in preparation for Q1 and Q2 respectively. Daniel was quickly up to speed on the medium tyre and slightly under-utilised the grip on the soft compound, so there's definitely more to come. We've been impressed by his performance and feedback so far, and he's fitted straight into the team like he never left. The updates we've brought are working, and we look forward to seeing what we can achieve in quali tomorrow."
Check out our Friday gallery from the Hungaroring here.