Ferrari drivers feel more competitive at the Hungaroring, but still behind McLaren and Red Bull

Despite some difficulties across the two practice sessions, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz sounded a positive note on the opening day of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ferrari brought only a single update to the Hungaroring, but it was a very important one as the Scuderia hopes from a modified floor that the SF-24 can finally get rid of the severe bouncing that has hindered the team since the Barcelona F1 round.

The opening session saw Carlos Sainz set the pace at the Hungaroring, ending the session almost three tenths of a second quicker than what second-fastest Max Verstappen managed.

However, the second practice turned out to be a more difficult session with Charles Leclerc crashing out in Turn 4 with 44 minutes left on the clock. The Monegasque tried to carry too much speed into the corner that is usually labelled as 'Mansell' by the Hungarian fans, and doing so, he lost the back end of the car over the kerbs.

Although the SF-24 crashed into the barriers, the damage was not too serious, but it was still enough for Leclerc to sit out the remainder of the session.

Speaking after his early exit from the session, Leclerc took the blame for the error as he explained how it had happened.

“When I lost it, I thought the damage would be much bigger. The damage is not that big, but it’s enough for us to not continue the session and that’s never what you want.

“What happened is that I ran a bit wide on the kerb, I got a snap in the middle of Turn 4, got a bit wide on the kerb and then lost the car on the kerb. So it was my mistake, but now it’s all about bouncing back tomorrow.

“Until now the car was pretty good, the feeling is getting a little bit better – we had more of a consistent day compared to the last three or four weekends, so that’s positive. Unfortunately, with the mistake the mileage was cut short, but hopefully we’ll recover that in FP3.”

His team-mate Carlos Sainz looked quick in Free Practice 1, but he struggled for pace during his race simulation run.

“At the same time we seem to always see everyone turning it up in Q3 a bit more than us, so I prefer to remain a bit on the cautious side and not to take too many conclusions from today.

“It was a tough day for everyone with the heat and the car handling so, yeah, I think everyone’s going to change quite a bit the car set-up going into tomorrow, and [everyone is] going to take steps forward.”

“Even FP2, the cloud coverage came and it seemed to be the track temperature dropping, but it wasn’t really any cooler, at least on the car, and the tyres still seemed to be degrading quite a lot,” the 29-year-old said.

“So I’m quite interested to see what’s going to happen in the race, because it’s really warm and the tyres are degrading, and I think it’s going to be tough for everyone.”