F1 News
Hamilton agrees with Verstappen: "means we get less running"
Lewis Hamilton agrees with Max Verstappen with a dislike towards the new tyre allocation format being tested for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. He also disliked the performance from the Mercedes car but is somewhat confident that his F1 team will find the required improvements overnight.
In Hungary, each driver must use hard tyres in Q1, mediums in Q2 and soft tyres in Q3. The plan is to reduce the amount of tyres being taken to each Grand Prix but Verstappen voiced his concern about the amount of running completed during the day. Hamilton agrees with his Red Bull rival.
Bad format in Hungary
"We only had one tyre for this session. This change is not a great format for this weekend," Hamilton said in an interview recorded by the Sky Sports cameras.
Hamilton explained and offered a solution: "Just means we get less running, not ideal. There are a lot of wet tyres they throw away after every weekend. Maybe they should look at something like that rather than taking time on track away from fans."
Still, the seven-time World Champion did get some information regarding his Mercedes car. Despite that not being to his liking either, he has confidence in Mercedes that they will turn it around on Saturday and Sunday.
"It wasn't feeling good at all. The car was at its worse today, we will work on the set-up tonight. Last year it felt terrible at the start, and we turned it around. Hopefully, tomorrow it'll work better," Hamilton concluded.
Hamilton finished the second free practice session as the 16th fastest driver. Teammate George Russell finished 20th. Similar to Helmut Marko's assessment on Verstappen, there doesn't seem to be much concern at Mercedes.