Russell: We’re not very competitive in hot conditions

Mercedes drivers, summarizing the results from the first day of the Hungarian weekend, noted that their cars are not performing well in hot weather, and this will need to be resolved to catch up with the leaders by Saturday’s qualifying.

George Russell (5th): “It was very hot today! But in the car, everything was not so bad. I expected it to be worse, although I have no doubt that as the race progresses on Sunday, my opinion will change. Everyone working in our garage is doing an excellent job despite such difficult conditions, even if the temperature rises to 35 degrees.

We have done quite a few laps during the long series, gathering some really valuable information, and in the evening we will analyse it. This will help us to choose our tactics for the rest of the weekend, and we will understand what improvements can be made to the settings before we start qualifying tomorrow.

It seems that the rivals of McLaren and Red Bull are capable of very high speeds, so we understand that we have to catch up a little bit. We are not as competitive in hot conditions, and we have to figure that out.

I am very keen to know what results we can achieve tomorrow, but I hope we can fight for positions in the top three tiers.”

Lewis hamilton (7th): “It’s very warm here this weekend, but this weather is typical for Budapest at this time of year. Today was not our best day, the car settings didn’t quite suit me, so we’re not in the best shape.

We managed to make some adjustments between sessions, but nothing major. However, we already have some assumptions as to why the machine didn’t work well, and in the evening we will do everything we can to fix something tomorrow.

The results are again very tight and although we are behind the leaders in terms of speed in one fast lap, the pace over the long run was quite good. But we will do everything we can to close the gap by Saturday.”