Hungary Test Day 2: Russell and Mercedes end on a high

Russell was quickest on the final day, setting an official lap record at the Hungarian Grand Prix venue with the best time of 1:15.575, edging Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen by 0.074 of a second. The veteran Finn jetting back from home in Switzerland for the day.

Red Bull's simulator driver Jake Dennis was third fastest, racking up 131 laps in the process, mileage matched by Raikkonen who ended the day with the same amount of laps.

Antonio Giovinazzi, who was quickest for Ferrari a day earlier, this time was suited and booted for Sauber, ending the day fourth fastest and best of the rest behind the top three teams.

Nikita Mazepin was fifth fastest, but his Force India stopped on track and as a result, he did the least mileage on the day, with on 51 laps on his chart.

Williams had Robert Kubica on duty with the Pole managing 103 laps with a best time of 1:18.451 which was a couple of seconds faster than Oliver Rowland managed in the same car a day earlier.

Lando Norris ended his second day in the McLaren cockpit with the seventh best time, the 18-year-old completing 180 laps over the course of the two days.

Formula 2 front-runner Artem Markelov gave a good account of himself in his first F1 test for Renault, completing 108 laps on the day.

After crashing out on day one, Sean Galeal was back in the Toro Rosso completing 122 laps and setting the ninth best time in the process.

Pierre Gasly and Bredon Hartley devoted their time in the Toro Rosso for exclusive Pirelli testing of 2019 rubber compounds. The pair combined to do 142 laps.

Haas were the only team not to take part in the test.

George Russell: "Day two ran very smoothly and was a much more productive day for the team and me. We did some runs on the HyperSoft tyre, which was an incredible experience for me. I had never driven that tyre before, nor a Formula One car in anything other than a race setup. That was a great experience and it puts a smile on my face that we achieved the fastest lap ever around the Hungaroring. All in all, it's been two productive and positive days and I can't wait for the next opportunity to drive an F1 car again."

Rich Lane, Engineer: "We've had quite a good day today. After a tricky day yesterday, we managed to recover the test and got through most of the programme that we had planned for the week. Today's work focused on brakes and aerodynamics. We also worked on George's performance and he did a very good job today as always. It's been a positive end to the first half of the season and everyone is now looking forward to summer shutdown in a couple of days and then Spa."

Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen got behind the wheel of the SF71H, while Antonio Giovinazzi, who had driven it yesterday, was having another day of testing, this time in the Alfa Sauber. Temperatures stayed around the 35 degree mark, while the track surface got as hot as 54 during the day.

Kimi had a busy programme to tackle, focused on various set-up solutions and tyre testing looking at five compounds; Medium, Soft, Supersoft, Ultrasoft and one set of experimental and therefore unmarked Pirellis.

By the end of the day and despite several red flag interruptions, Kimi had covered 131 laps, the best of which being a 1:15.649, set on used Hypersoft tyres, that Giovinazzi had run yesterday.

“In the end, it’s not that different to a Friday at a Grand Prix,” commented the driver, “when you try out various solutions. And that’s why, being a test, the lap times don’t mean much.”

Over the two days of testing, the SF71H completed 227 laps, equal to 994 kilometres. Now, the engines on track fall silent and at the end of this week, almost all work within the teams comes to a halt, starting up again a few days before the Belgian GP, on the last weekend of August.

Formula 1’s second in-season test of the year drew to a close today, with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Simulator Development Driver Jake Dennis posting the third fastest time of the day as the team worked through a busy programme of development work aimed at the final stages of this season, and with an eye to the 2019 campaign.

Today was Jake’s second taste of the RB14 after making his test debut for the team in May. Once again, the simulator driver provided the team with a huge amount of valuable data and feedback as he worked through set-up options, tyre testing, aero mapping duties and, just for good measure, some performance runs on the softer end of Pirelli’s tyre range.

“That was a good day! We did 131 laps, I think Daniel did 125 yesterday, so a lot of mileage for the team and a lot learned,” said Jake, who posted a best time of 1:17.012 and matched the day’s largest lap total. “I was focused on some long runs in the morning and then some softer tyre stuff, which I enjoyed."

"To push the car to its limits was a great experience. Then it was back to more long runs in the afternoon and we think we made some big progress with the car. Overall, a very good day and I can’t thank the team enough for inviting me back. Also, 131 laps for a rookie – I’m certainly feeling it now!”

Senior Projects Engineer Jeff Calam added: “We had a very busy programme today and we got through all of the items scheduled. In the morning we again ran with a range of parts targeted at the RB15 and were able to do a lot of good work testing those against the RB14."

"We also got through some aero mapping of the RB14 and the data we gained will be of enormous value in relation to the final nine races of the season. We also did some tyre work, with Jake completing runs on the softer tyres. It was great for him to get a real feel for what the RB14 is capable of and I think he enjoyed the experience."

"His feedback throughout was very good and not only was it valuable for him to get another real world experience of the car, it will also help with correlation with his simulator work. All told this has been a very positive test for the team, and a great way to head into the much-needed summer break.”

Lando Norris, Test and Reserve Driver: “Yesterday was quite tricky because it was the first time I’ve driven in the wet in Formula 1, and it’s quite a different experience to Formula 2. Driving these cars does take a bit of time to get used to, but a lot of it’s just because of the run plan, testing a lot of different parts and getting aero data.

“The team has been trying to get as much information as they can on things open to them over the next few race weekends, and things that they tested over this weekend, so they can analyse the runs. There’s not been that much performance testing where I’ve been able to do as quick a lap-time as I would like, but a lot of it has been going over the run plan and sticking to that.

“This year’s car feels much better than last year’s, for sure, mainly because it’s got a bit more power, but it’s hard to say. Compared to last year I’ve been doing a lot more testing rather trying to make myself look good by doing a fast lap-time.

“The first important thing is being able to jump in and get up to a pretty reasonable base quickly, and not wasting the whole morning taking ages to get up to speed. It’s about being within a few metres straight away on the braking points and high-speed corners. Secondly, the team wants consistency and your feedback, so that they’re able to precisely know if something’s worse or better, and whether to keep it for the future.

“These test days are just as important as any other days I’ve ever done. Whether it’s Barcelona, Abu Dhabi, here last year, they’re all important in terms of how I drive on-track, my behaviour off-track, my feedback, and how I try and move everything forward.”

Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: “Overall, today has been another good day, and we’ve gathered information that is both relevant for this year and next year. Unfortunately, we had a couple of small issues this afternoon that limited our mileage, however they didn’t have a major impact on our run plan. Lando has done a great job and hasn’t put a foot wrong over the last two days. Now onto our summer break, and I wish everyone an enjoyable and restful two weeks off.”

Nikita Mazepin: “I was extremely excited to be back in the car and I am happy with the way we worked today. We had a couple of issues with the car that prevented us from completing our programme, but we were still able to have some meaningful running and complete more than 50 laps. I am grateful to the crew for their hard work. Every time I step into an F1 car it’s a big enjoyment boost compared to the GP3 cars I am used to."

"Working with the team is incredible: even though I have been with this group of people for two years now, every time I am testing I am impressed by the level of professionalism and expertise that surrounds me. There is so much I can learn from the engineers and I am determined to give the best possible feedback to help the team progress.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer: “Nikita settled in quickly with the team and we were able to hit the ground running. We went through all our data and information-gathering programme in the morning, but unfortunately we had a couple of technical issues that cost us track time later in the day. The crew did well to replace the affected parts and we were able to catch up and bring forward our test programme, while giving our development driver some valuable experience behind the wheel. Overall, we had two productive days here in Budapest to finish the first part of the season.”

Sean Gelael: “It was a really long day today, 122 laps after the 109 laps I’ve done for Pirelli yesterday! We ran some interesting tests throughout the sessions, a lot of it was focussed on the aero and a couple of performance runs in the hot conditions which we were able to get a lot of data from. Hopefully, all of the information we gathered over the past two days will help the team for the second half of the season.”

Jonathan Eddolls, Chief Race Engineer: “It was great to welcome Sean back into the car for the first time since T03 in Spain, he drove our car yesterday but that was for a Pirelli tyre test. He took over the testing duties after Brendon yesterday. We had quite a lot of aero mapping and aero rake work this morning, so we had several large aero rakes on the car to gather data to correlate to CFD and wind tunnel. We completed those first before getting into some aero mapping runs. The second half of the morning we completed some performance runs for Sean, we ran on the Ultrasofts and moved onto the Hypersoft tyres."

"The Hypersoft was quite an aggressive tyre here, so even by the last sector the tyre had started to give up. For the time of the day, the lap times were reasonably competitive. Across those runs we were trying some further mechanical background tests following on from the successful tests we did yesterday. Moving into the afternoon, we fitted a third rake on the front brake duct to measure the front wing wake, and then we did some Soft tyre runs which focussed on some new suspension components."

"It’s the first time we have run those on track, so we spent a number of runs carrying out system checks and then performance runs for good balance. At the end of the day we had a couple of Medium tyre runs, where we tested some more engine mapping work, and across those runs we tested some further mechanical setup work focussing on the front end of the car."

"It has been a very busy seven weeks of testing and racing, with some more challenging than others, but everyone in the team across the factories in Faenza, Bicester and Honda have been pushing throughout to the maximum and the result in Hungary race showed we are not giving up the fight!"

"I would like to thank everyone in the team and also Honda for giving 100% through the first half of the season, and I wish everyone a well-deserved two-week break to come back refreshed to continue the fight for points in the second half of the season.”

Franz Tost, Team Principal: “These two test days after the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend were very important for Toro Rosso because we had a lot of different test topics to cover. We have been focussing not only on the aerodynamic aspects but also on the mechanical side of the car. It was an unusual post-race test as we have been running two STR13s: one car to complete a standard test session for the team, and the other which was allocated specifically to complete the Pirelli test."

"We covered most of the mechanical tests on our plan yesterday, and we completed the list this morning when Sean carried out many test items which were useful for the aerodynamic department as well. Today, Pierre and Brendon shared duties for the Pirelli tyre test, taking the wheel from Sean, who was able to cover 109 laps for Pirelli yesterday."

"We finished our fourth test of this year with 248 laps in total, which means we could fully cover our programme for this two-day test in Budapest. We didn’t complete any low fuel runs or qualifying simulations in order to concentrate on our aerodynamic development. It’s now in the hands of our engineers to analyse all of the data we’ve collected, to get the best out of the car for the second half of the season. We will also use the findings from the test to work towards building next year’s STR14."

"I would like to thank all of the race team, especially the engineers and mechanics, because the last few weeks were really tough for everyone. I wish them all a nice summer break, hoping they will recover, recharge the batteries, and come back highly motivated for the second part of the season.”

Toyoharu Tanabe, Honda F1 Technical Director: “This has been a useful and productive two-day test. Like all PU manufacturers, we do a lot of work on the test bench, but there is no substitute for actually running on a race track. Honda PUs completed 499 laps in total, including the Pirelli test car, which is a distance equivalent to 2.186 kilometres and we believe the data from that will help us make our next steps forward."

"The first half of the season is now over and I appreciate the hard effort made by all the members of the team so far. We are now looking forward to enjoying a short break from work before returning to racing in Belgium.”

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering:" We have ended what has been a successful test. We came here to predominately concentrate on 2019 aero specification and we have carried out every single item on the test programme regarding 2019 that we set out to, and some more. The engineering team and mechanics couldn’t have worked any harder and have done a great job."

"We need to go away now and use all the data to help us with correlation for 2019 regulations. Additionally, we had a look at the remainder of the season, some set up, some tyre preparation work and we have some interesting directions from there. Robert set some good lap times considering the tyres we gave him and the time in the car. Overall, it’s a good way to go into the summer break for the team."

Robert Kubica, Reserve and Development Driver: "It was a good day. We had a mixed programme with some data collection for next year and trying to understand our car better for 2018. We also ran a few runs with the current car specification to help with the rest of the season. We have a lot of data to go through and analyse but it was a good test to end on before the summer break."

The second day of testing at the Hungaroring saw Antonio Giovinazzi at the cockpit of the C37. The Italian driver completed a total of 120 laps throughout the day, finishing in fourth place with a laptime of 1:17.558 on hypersoft tyres. The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team ran through the planned programme efficiently.

It consisted of mechanical set-up work, testing of new aerodynamic parts, as well as runs on various tyre compounds. The team is now heading into the Formula One summer break, and will be back on track for the next race – the 2018 FIA Formula One Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Antonio Giovinazzi: “I am very happy with how the day went. It was good to be back in the car after completing FP1 for the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team last week, and spending a day of testing with Ferrari yesterday. With a full day in the C37, I feel very comfortable and have learned a lot about its behaviour on track. We completed the planned programme which was our target, so I am very pleased. The team has done a fantastic job in developing the car. With the data that we collected today, they can hopefully continue to work in that direction. I look forward to being in the car again.”