Heading into the weekend, Red Bull had hoped the Hungaroring would offer a better opportunity than Silverstone and Spa, as the shortcomings on the electrical side of the power unit are exposed to a lesser extent at the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix venue.
Friday’s practice sessions, however, proved to be challenging. That was partly due to the condition of the track surface, but both Red Bull drivers also expressed their dissatisfaction with the balance of the RB22.
Verstappen finished almost seven tenths behind pace-setter Lewis Hamilton, while Hadjar was more than a second adrift.
“A lot of work to do. We are not where we should be, and not where we want to be,” Wache admitted after the second practice session at the Hungaroring.
“The drivers are not happy with the car balance. Clearly, the grip on this track is very low on Friday. The bumps on the track are also perturbing the car balance and there’s a lot of work to do on that aspect.”
Dealing with bumps and kerbs has been one of Red Bull’s weak points for several years, and Wache acknowledged earlier this season that this Achilles’ heel has not completely disappeared.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
“Surprisingly, we have to run quite stiff with this car,” Wache said. “The map is quite peaky. Then the issue we had last year with the ground-effect generation of cars, more or less, we discover the same issues again this year. That’s something we have to work on.”
The same applies to two other issues Verstappen complained about on Friday: a problem with his seat and, once again, an unsatisfactory feeling under downshifting. According to Wache, neither issue is insurmountable, but both need to be resolved before Saturday.
“The seating is not solved yet. The downshifts, we will have to sort out for sure. Both of them,” he said.
It means Red Bull not only has to address a number of limitations, but also find outright pace, particularly compared to Ferrari. Like Mercedes, Wache believes the Scuderia is the benchmark this weekend.
“It’s what we expected,” he concluded. “We expected that they would be the quickest in some corners here, that they have an advantage mainly on one lap performance, I would say. We will see what they have in the long run, but yes, they have the car to beat here.”
Why the wind makes set-up changes even more difficult
Hadjar described Friday at the Hungaroring as one of the toughest of the season, although he believes the first practice session still provided some useful pointers for Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s been one of the toughest Friday of the season so far. Conditions are very tricky, very bumpy as well, so it’s hard on the tyres, on the brakes,” Hadjar said. “We kind of made a step back on the feeling in the car in FP2. I think in FP1 we had a better car overall. I think long run pace looked pretty good, but we were missing on one lap.”
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Liam Fabre
Red Bull will look at the set-up on Friday evening, but according to Hadjar that is difficult to optimise because the wind direction could change, with the current generation of cars extremely sensitive to it.
“Everything we do, we need to do it regarding the wind, because if it picks up, then whatever you do on your car, it’s not going to be a step ahead,” he explained.
“We need to see what the conditions are out tomorrow, we have a few ideas. If it’s very gusty it’s going to be tricky.”
Red Bull’s most positive takeaway from Friday was that the rotating rear wing appeared to be working as intended. After Verstappen’s two crashes, the team identified what it described as “a mechanical issue”, but following a number of tweaks, the Macarena wing was back in action in Hungary.
“At the moment it’s behaving correctly,” Wache concluded. “We verified it at the factory with a proof test, a massive proof test, to not make it unsafe with the rear wing. I think that’s very important and there were no issues today.”
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