[F1] – Good morning to all dear readers of FormulaPassion.it and welcome back to the appointment dedicated to the written live coverage of the first free practice session of Hungarian Grand Prixeleventh round of the 2023 Formula 1 championship.
Red Bull with new sides, Ricciardo is back
In Budapest, the team that is ‘playing’ with important updates is the undisputed queen of this 2023, namely the Red Bull RB19 which has new bellies that are even more extreme than the version seen in action up until two weeks ago at Silverstone in Great Britain. At the level of pilots spotlight on Daniel Ricciardowho is once again the protagonist starting from the AlphaTauri in place of Nyck De Vries.
Session in progress
14.13 – Bottas signals via radio that there is little grip, but that you can turn, in fact you ‘launch’.
14.12 – Perez’s Red Bull has now arrived in the pits.
14.10 – Verstappen is also getting ready to take to the track.
14.08 – It is truly remarkable that there are no timed times after almost 40 minutes of FP1.
14.06 – Single lap also for Gasly.
14.05 – Norris also made the lap, signaling that there is no grip.
14.04 – Perez is not paying ‘duty’ for his mistake as his colleagues cannot ride in competitive track conditions.
14.02 – Piastri took to the track, the rain increased in intensity.
The heavens have properly opened 🌧️#HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/KRmDe2v7hb
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2023
14.01 – PL1 for now without really any technical cues, Perez’s accident took away the only minutes on a dry track, then the rain came.
14.00 – The riders are doing just one lap just to be able to keep the set of tires and not give it back at the end of the session.
13.59 – Leclerc and Albon take to the track.
13.58 – Sainz also covered only one lap, risking a long one at the chicane.
13.57 – Now it is Sainz with Ferrari who runs with the intermediates.
13.56 – Even Ocon returned to the pits after just one lap.
13.54 – Now it is Ocon who always takes to the track with intermediate tyres.
13.52 – The rain that has already fallen in these FP1s will allow the teams to save sets of tyres. Hamilton has already returned to the pits after just one lap. The track seems to be almost dry already as the rain was very short.
13.50 – Hamilton is the first to take to the track with the intermediate tyres.
13.49 – This error by Perez will provide more detailed images to the competition of the Red Bull fund.
13.47 – There is no track pin activity at the moment.
13.44 – Heavy rain at the moment, the track is not for slicks and Valtteri Bottas’s spin in the third sector testifies to it, no damage for the Finn.
Rain has started to fall and Bottas has slithered off onto the grass#HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZnaiXnetlf
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2023
13.42 – Perez also had a new gearbox. It starts to rain.
13.41 – Let’s start once again, green light.
13.40 – Perez had a medium tyre, was busy on his first flying lap, and damaged his updated Red Bull.
13.38 – For Perez the PL1s are already over.
13.36 – Serious mistake by the Mexican, not a good start for Checo now that Ricciardo is on the track to put pressure on him.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
Perez is in the barriers 💥#HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/D2fEdYeOGP
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2023
13.34 – Perez’s weekend starts badly, on a wall in Turn-6, he touched the grass losing the rear. Red flag.
13.33 – Problems for Zhou’s Alfa Romeo, which is called to the pits.
13.32 – For now dry track and not so threatening sky.
13.31 – Immediately heavy traffic on the track, the soft and medium tires used at the moment.
13.30 – Green light at the end of the pit lane, the first free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix begins.
13.25 – The rain flaps tested at Silverstone by McLaren and Mercedes did not work.
13.20 – 25°C the air temperature, 37°C that of the asphalt.
13.10 – Ferrari also presents itself with novelties on the front wing, ditto Mercedes which also has updates to the front suspension and rear wing, but the latter is not a novelty but the high-load specification for circuits such as Budapest.
13.00 – In terms of weather, it is raining around the circuit. The teams were informed of possible rain showers at 1.30pm, coinciding with the start of the first free practice session.
12.50 – Any specific work program that the teams could decide to undertake in these FP1s will need to be evaluated considering the fact that tomorrow in Qualifying the experimental format will debut with the obligation to use the hard tires in Q1 and the medium ones in Q2.
12.40 – Nyck De Vries ended his F1 experience prematurely. At Silverstone we had the opportunity to interview the Dutch driver in what was his last weekend as an AlphaTauri driver.
12.30 – Let’s start our story right with the list of Red Bull updates.
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