20/07/2024
NEWS STORY
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director: The weather made Qualifying a bit more exciting than what many expected today.
Light rain on and off made it hard to read the track conditions, but the best moments were probably at the start and end of Q1. Logan's first timed lap was mega, and this would be enough to move into Q2 whereas Alex made it through with a great lap right at the end. Unfortunately, in Q2 we didn't get it all right for the push lap, finding too much traffic around the track but both cars are in a good position to fight for points tomorrow. Tyre management, pitstops and finding clean air will be crucial tomorrow as the temperatures should pick up again.
Alex Albon: There was definitely more in it today; I got caught in dirty air for most of Q2 and as I was starting my lap, others were on their outlaps, so it was difficult with the traffic. You need everything to align around here, and we didn't get the most out of it today, so it's frustrating. It's going to be a long race tomorrow with the degradation being quite high as we've seen from the F2 and F3 races, so there will be a lot of pit stops and just the battle for clean air which is vital around this circuit. It's frustrating to finish the day like this but we'll work with what we've got tomorrow.
Logan Sargeant: It was an eventful Qualifying. I was really happy with the first lap I did when it was spitting a bit of rain. I wasn't so happy with my mistake on the second lap, and I must say a big thanks to the team for doing a great job to get the car turned around to go back out again. We had a lot more pace in it in Q2, but I had dirty air in every sector with people staying in front of you longer than they need to and putting dirty air on your front wing. There are tenths in that around this track so it's excessively detrimental here, especially with the overheating you get. I'm disappointed for myself and for the team as I know we had a lot more in it today, but we'll move on and fight tomorrow.
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Hungaroring here.