Oscar Piastri left Friday’s Formula 1 Hungarian GP convinced that McLaren can still fight for a significant result in Budapest. Despite the difficulties faced throughout the day, the Australian stated that the team remains in contention and sees room for improvement before the decisive activities of the weekend.
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Piastri highlighted that track conditions had a great influence on the cars’ performance. Strong winds and low grip on newer sections of the asphalt made it difficult for competitors to adapt and made it harder to find a consistent pace during the sessions.
In the case of the McLaren driver, the situation was even more particular. As he only participated in FP2, the Australian needed more time to adapt to the circuit conditions, in addition to relying on the data collected by the team throughout the day.
“It was a very challenging session for us. Track conditions were difficult due to strong winds, and the newer areas of the circuit are quite worn and have low grip, which made it complicated to find a rhythm,” he stated.
Piastri also thanked the support received during the morning and emphasized the importance of the work carried out by the team: “Having only participated in one session today meant I needed a bit more time to get into the rhythm in FP2, but I thank Leo for his support this morning. We gathered as much data as possible under the circumstances we had and will work tonight and in FP3 to find improvements,” he said.
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Additionally, the Australian commented on the updates introduced by McLaren this weekend. According to him, the new components installed on Lando Norris’ car are showing the expected results, increasing the anticipation to use them on his own car.
“These new parts seem to be working as expected on Lando’s car, and I’m looking forward to having them on mine tomorrow,” he added, demonstrating confidence in the potential of the package brought to the Hungaroring circuit.
Finally, Piastri acknowledged the strength shown by Ferrari in Friday’s activities, but believes that McLaren remains in a position to contend for the top spots: “The Ferraris look strong, but we feel we are in the fight. If we can put everything together and execute a clean qualifying session, we believe there is a good opportunity to make significant progress and fight for a strong result,” he concluded.
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