Red Bull duo label Mercedes as the team to beat in Hungary

Red Bull Formula 1 drivers Pierre Gasly and Max Verstappen have picked out Mercedes as the benchmark team to beat at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Gasly headed a Red Bull 1-2 before rain hit during second practice at the Hungaroring, but Mercedes topped the timesheets in dry conditions on Friday morning, with Lewis Hamilton ending up nearly two-tenths clear of Verstappen in FP1.

Hamilton’s 1m17.233s effort could not be bettered in the afternoon before a rain shower disrupted running in FP2.

“I think the main thing for us is that FP1 was strong, and FP2 was strong also,” FP2 leader Gasly explained.

“It was strong for us on the dry and the wet. So far I am happy with the car on the few laps we did, so let’s see what we can fight for tomorrow.

“Tomorrow could be very unpredictable like today. The weather seems to be similar to today so could be really tricky so it was good to get the laps in this afternoon.

“I think Mercedes is really fast in FP1 and also in FP2,” he added. “Ferrari I don’t really think they showed their true pace, but we know they are going to be there in qualifying.

“I think it’s going to be pretty tight tomorrow but with the conditions the same and quite unpredictable, not too much to think about now we’ll see tomorrow what happens tomorrow.”

Red Bull teammate Verstappen, who is looking to record his third victory in four races in Hungary, added: “We tried a few things on the car, initially I was happy in FP1.

“We tried a few things, which I was not so happy about, so I was just having a really strong front-end and losing the rear.

“I think it’s important to test those things because then in FP2 my car was again in a nice balance so we seem to be competitive.

“I still expect Mercedes to be a little bit ahead of us but I think tomorrow will be an interesting day.

“It’s difficult to say of course but I think it’s close, it’s all pretty close.”