F1 Paddock Notebook - Hungarian GP Thursday

Recapping all of the additional news and notes from the Hungaroring on Thursday, Crash.net F1 Digital Editor Luke Smith brings you his paddock notebook.

- Following the death of former Ferrari CEO and chairman Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari's motorhome held its flags at half-mast on Thursday in Hungary, with all of its team members sporting black armbands in tribute.

- Ferrari and its two customer teams, Sauber and Haas, will all race with black bands around their cars in Hungary as a mark of respect to Marchionne, who passed away after complications following surgery at the age of 66.

- The FIA confirmed on Thursday it had excused Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen and team principal Maurizio Arrivabene from the official press conferences in Hungary "due to the exceptional circumstances" surrounding the team. If either Raikkonen or teammate Sebastian Vettel finish in the top three in qualifying or the race, they will be expected to fulfill their press conference duties as normal.

- Ferrari is reported to have brought a significant power unit update to Hungary for Haas and Sauber that could be worth as much as 40 BHP. Much as Ferrari did earlier in the season, it gave its updates to the customer teams first to ensure they were reliable before then giving them to the works team the new parts for the next race (Spa).

- The breaking news early on Thursday was McLaren's signing of Toro Rosso technical director James Key, coming in to replace Tim Goss, who left the team earlier this year. However, Toro Rosso responded by issuing a short message on Twitter quoting team boss Franz Tost, who said: "James Key has a long term valid contract with the team. The contents of the contract are confidential, therefore we won’t comment on any of the details." Drivers Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly were both reluctant to comment on the matter.

- Key is not present in Hungary, but this was planned, with the Briton also missing the last race in Germany.

- Fernando Alonso did not comment directly on the Key news, but said he liked the direction McLaren was going in with the recent changes it has made. "Once you accept the car is not quick enough and there’s a lack of performance, then you start searching for new ideas, new people, new philosophies," he said. "I think the way of taking people from the outside, maybe with different philosophies, changing a little bit the structure, simplifying how everything runs in the car, in the team, I think are all positive steps to make McLaren competitive in the near future."

- Antonio Giovinazzi is set to return to Sauber practice duties on Friday, taking Charles Leclerc's place for FP1 at the Hungaroring. Giovinazzi featured in Germany, and is poised to make another four practice appearances this year with the team.

- Sergio Perez opened up about Force India's ongoing financial issues on Thursday, calling them "critical," but was quick to stress his confidence in the team moving forward, saying he did not think any other outfit in F1 had so much potential. The Mexican expects to get a clearer view on his F1 future after the summer break, saying there are a "couple of options" for him to consider.

- Speaking about the driver market, Perez said he doubted there would be as much movement as speculated: "We'll see a lot of moving around in the media, the driver market, but things are a lot more quiet, and I think there may probably be less movement than expected. "

- Perez has been linked with a seat at Haas, whose team boss, Gunther Steiner, said there are plenty of drivers contacting the team over a race drive. "A lot of people are shopping with us," he said. "There are people asking for obvious reasons and they want to see what we are doing and if somebody is asking that doesn’t mean they want to come, in my opinion, they might just be asking to see what other people are doing.  We will decide after the holiday what we are going to do, but at the moment we don’t think about it."

- Steiner revealed that negotiations with Sepang over compensation for the damage caused to Romain Grosjean's car after hitting a loose drain cover in last year's Malaysian Grand Prix practice are still ongoing, some nine months after the incident occurred.

- The tight layout of the Hungaroring is widely expected to favour Ferrari and Red Bull, but the latter's drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, are braced for a three-team fight at the front. "I really think all three are going to be really close," Ricciardo said. "I’m going to predict - after me! - the rest of the [front five] will be within one-tenth. Should be close, I hope it’s close, for all six cars."

- Championship leader and five-time Hungarian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton is braced for "the same challenge it is every single year" at the Hungaroring given the circuit's suiting to Mercedes' rivals. Hamilton comes into the weekend protecting a 17-point lead at the top of the drivers' championship, and is bidding to become the second driver in F1 history to win two different races six times in their career.

- Stoffel Vandoorne has taken a new chassis for this weekend in a bid to remedy his long-running downforce issues. Vandoorne has not scored a point since Baku, and dropped out in Q1 at each of the last four races.

- Carlos Sainz Jr. explained the events that led to his 10-second time penalty in Germany that cost him a point, revealing he was unsure who he was permitted to unlap, causing him to pass Marcus Ericsson by accident. "I was told to give the position back to him, I gave the position back to him but I don’t know if intentionally or not he braked again and he let me by again," Sainz said. Ericsson also called the incident "strange". 

An update on the power unit component usage heading into the weekend #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/nFVWpuTOOh

— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) July 26, 2018