2021 Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, July 30 - Aug 01

[Big Tea]

Looking to be very close. Perez, again, looking to be nowhere.

Can't be Perez at fault. Two poor drivers in a row can be a coincidence 3 a far possibility but ALL of them?
Must be some outside action we don't know about, especially when you look at the same drivers on other cars.

Unless of course Max is the driving god his zealots believe him to be.

There is that I suppose, but that would make the Red Bull a very poor car in a 'normal drivers' hands

[Starkblood80]

Can't be Perez at fault. Two poor drivers in a row can be a coincidence 3 a far possibility but ALL of them?
Must be some outside action we don't know about, especially when you look at the same drivers on other cars.

Unless of course Max is the driving god his zealots believe him to be.

There is that I suppose, but that would make the Red Bull a very poor car in a 'normal drivers' hands

Perhaps it is

[El Scorchio]

Looking to be very close. Perez, again, looking to be nowhere.

Can't be Perez at fault. Two poor drivers in a row can be a coincidence 3 a far possibility but ALL of them?
Must be some outside action we don't know about, especially when you look at the same drivers on other cars.

Exactly that. it's a mix of setup and strategy for the 'other' driver at RBR. Perez is clearly driving to a different strategy than Verstappen. Car set up to go long in the race, be a blocker for Hamilton at the pit stops and then come alive on a shorter second stint on fresher tyres. Playing to his strengths as a tyre whisperer. It's clear from in races that he's got plenty of pace when he needs it, and qualifying isn't really representative otherwise he'd be finishing every race virtually a lap down.

As there have been zero noises from the team about his performance, he's clearly doing what they want of him. Spin in Silverstone aside.

[Ryar]

Looking to be very close. Perez, again, looking to be nowhere.

Can't be Perez at fault. Two poor drivers in a row can be a coincidence 3 a far possibility but ALL of them?
Must be some outside action we don't know about, especially when you look at the same drivers on other cars.

Exactly that. it's a mix of setup and strategy for the 'other' driver at RBR. Perez is clearly driving to a different strategy than Verstappen. Car set up to go long in the race, be a blocker for Hamilton at the pit stops and then come alive on a shorter second stint on fresher tyres. Playing to his strengths as a tyre whisperer. It's clear from in races that he's got plenty of pace when he needs it, and qualifying isn't really representative otherwise he'd be finishing every race virtually a lap down.

As there have been zero noises from the team about his performance, he's clearly doing what they want of him. Spin in Silverstone aside.

Needless to say, both teams are using their 'other' driver to aid their No.1 driver, in different manners.

[Wouter]

Looking to be very close. Perez, again, looking to be nowhere.

Can't be Perez at fault. Two poor drivers in a row can be a coincidence 3 a far possibility but ALL of them?
Must be some outside action we don't know about, especially when you look at the same drivers on other cars.

Perez drove the old 1st PU, which is always used on Fridays. Max drove the 2nd PU from Silverstone with a lot of power,
to see if it can still be used during the races. Furthermore, Perez drove with very little wing.

[Mogster]

Why would RBRs strategy for Perez include him qualifying 0.5 and a couple of rows behind their lead driver. I don’t buy this at all.

Perez had a car with race winning pace at Silverstone, he made very little progress on Sunday. Max’s championship push is deflecting comments about Perez’s lack of pace.

[search]

FP1 average longrun times (my own calculation, per-lap fuel factor nullified, off-laps deleted), if anyone is interested:

HAM_FP1 1:23,439 (5 Laps, S)
BOT_FP1 1:23,746 (8 Laps, H)
SAI_FP1 1:24,142 (5 Laps, M)
RIC_FP1 1:24,186 (4 Laps, S)
NOR_FP1 1:24,403 (7 Laps, S)
RUS_FP1 1:24,793 (6 Laps, H)
ALO_FP1 1:24,841 (7 Laps, S)
GAS_FP1 1:24,898 (5 Laps, S)
LAT_FP1 1:24,928 (7 Laps, M)
MAZ_FP1 1:26,668 (4 Laps, M)
MSC_FP1 1:27,287 (5 Laps, S)

Leclerc did only one lap (on hards), so I didn't include him. It was ~half a second slower than Bottas' first lap on the same tire.

[PlatinumZealot]

Perez race pace is good. Pretty much on par with Max when bothbare in clean air though that situation happens rarely.

So I think Max just better understands the characteristics of the car when it's on the limit.

For example braking earlier than Perez but still going faster. Max can predict how that car will behave through the corner.

[214270]

Toto sporting a rainbow lanyard attached to his paddock pass. Bravo

[SiLo]

Perez definitely needs to up his qualifying game. Especially around this track where its very hard to overtake. Hopefully they can find some more 1 lap pace before tomorrow afternoon.

[NathanOlder]

Have they had the Team principal press conference yet?

[Spacepace]

Have they had the Team principal press conference yet?

Not until after fp2

[NathanOlder]

Thanks

[RZS10]

It was between the FP sessions?

[Marty_Y]

Mercedes are looking strong here so far.