F1 Paddock Notebook – Hungarian GP Friday

- Lewis Hamilton closed out Friday with the fastest time of the day as rain affected much of the running at the Hungaroring. Hamilton’s top time from FP1 proved to be the fastest of the day as rain in the second session meant Pierre Gasly’s P1 effort was six-tenths of a second down.

- Hamilton said after the session that running in the wet was “irrelevant” given the improved weather forecast for the remainder of the weekend, with warmer conditions set to follow on Saturday and Sunday. Rain is still possible for qualifying, though.

- Hamilton also confirmed he was feeling much better as he returned to the Mercedes W10 car for the first time since coming down sick at Hockenheim. “I’m still sweating a lot, so I’m obviously still sweating out whatever bug that I had, but that’s a good thing,” said the five-time world champion.

- A misfire on Valtteri Bottas’ engine early in FP1 prompted Mercedes to change the Finn’s power unit on Friday, causing him to miss the majority of the opening session. Bottas was able to hit the track in FP2, but managed a total of just 20 laps on Friday.

- Bottas took new energy store and control electronics elements for his power unit, but remains within the season limit for both parts, meaning there is no penalty to be applied.

- Bottas, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell will all take fresh gearboxes for this weekend. All do so within the regulations, meaning there will be no grid penalties.

- Gasly said he still expected Mercedes to be the team to beat despite Red Bull’s 1-2 in FP2. Verstappen had two spins through FP1 as he experimented with the setup on his Red Bull RB14 car, reporting it felt “sensitive” on turn-in.

- McLaren drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris were both hit with issues through Friday. A water pressure issue for Sainz prompted the team to change him to his race power unit for FP2, one session ahead of schedule, while Norris had an hydraulic issue that curtailed his running in second practice.

- Norris was summoned to the stewards after FP1 in Hungary for stopping his car in the fast lane of the pit lane. However, Norris escaped a penalty after revealing he had stalled his car while trying to find the bite point.

- The only other driver to pick up a sanction on Friday as Kimi Raikkonen, who landed €600 fine for speeding in the pit lane.

- Alfa Romeo team manager Beat Zehnder confirmed on Friday that the appeal hearing against its penalties in Germany will be held on September 24 following the Singapore Grand Prix.

- Next year’s calendar was one of the big talking points in the FIA press conference on Friday, with a 22-race schedule expected for next year upon an agreement with Spain. While all of the team bosses present offered they support, they also urged caution for the extra pressures it will create. “As a small team we’re at the limit with 21 races already,” said Alfa’s Zehnder. “Any additional race will make it more difficult and we have to think about increasing the number of race team members and establishing a rotating system in a way.”

- The added commercial benefit of an extra race next year would also be offset by an expansion to four engines for the season, prompting Mattia Binotto to warn against upping the number. “Increasing the number of units for next year would be simply wrong, because it would mean, yes, more revenues, but then more costs, which would make no sense overall,” he said, as well as revealing a 24-race calendar is being discussed for 2021.

- Quite where all 22 races will fit in next year’s calendar remains a discussion point, but Otmar Szafnauer of Racing Point said a triple-header would not be the solution following the difficulties it offered last year. Claire Williams also said there had been an assurance that there would not be three straight races on next year’s schedule.

- A testing reduction is also being discussed for the future, something that received the support of the team principals. This could begin as early as next year with a cut to six days, albeit still over a two-week period in three-day chunks.

- The next meeting between F1 officials to discuss plans for 2021 will take place in September between Monza and Singapore.