GP Hungary | Hamilton and Bottas end P3 and P4 in the afternoon
Following the first session, with the fastest time of Lewis Hamilton and the engine-problems faced by Valterri Bottas, Mercedes finished behind the two Red Bull cars in FP2.
Mercedes displayed, overall, a consistent performance over the free-practices at the Hungaroring. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap in the morning with the soft compound and ended at the third position during the second session.
The British driver pointed out his W10 has shown a good balance since the beginning of the weekend. Despite, the team made few changes, Lewis Hamilton was not able to evaluate due to the harsh track conditions in FP2.
"FP1 was a good session. I wanted to come back into the weekend feeling better and getting straight on it. The car the balance was quite nice straight from the get-go.
“We made some changes in between the sessions, but unfortunately we didn’t really get to test it. This afternoon I only got a few laps on the Hard tyre, then we stopped because running in the wet is kind of irrelevant when you know that the race is most likely going to be dry.
“The weather was tricky; from the pit lane and on camera it looks like it’s just spitting, but when you’re driving through it, it’s raining a lot everywhere. The surface is quite dark as well, so you can’t really spot if it’s dry or damp."
Similarly, Bottas remarked that he felt comfortable with the car setup. Nevertheless, the Finnish driver did not manage to set a significant number of laps, due to the engine issues faced in the morning, besides the weather conditions in FP2.
"During my first timed lap in FP1 I had an issue with the engine where I lost power. The engine went into a safety mode so I had to come back in. The team couldn’t find the issue immediately, so we decided to swap the Power Unit for FP2.
“We were hoping for more laps in the afternoon, but the weather conditions meant that I only got three proper timed laps in in the dry and a couple in the wet.
“But at least the car felt good on the few laps I drove it. I got a feel for the car balance and an idea of what we need to work on for tomorrow. In the wet, the car felt better than it did last weekend, with a nicer balance and more grip. I’m looking forward to properly starting my race weekend tomorrow."
Lewis and Valtteri in P3 and P4 on a wet Friday in Budapest
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 2 agosto 2019
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