F1 drivers are not happy with the new tire format at Hungary

The Hungarian Grand Prix is the first of two weekends this season where the alternative dry tire layout will be used in Formula 1.

At the Hungaroring, drivers have 11 sets of slicks for the whole weekend, instead of the standard 13. They have three pairs of the hard compound (C3), and four each of the medium hard (C4) and soft (C5).

However, having fewer tires for practice did not go down well with the drivers who spent a lot of time in their garages yesterday even in the second practice session which was on dry track. Among the most displeased with this change in tire quantity were Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who completed 18 and 28 laps respectively in the second hour of practice yesterday.

“Honestly, it’s very hard to tell you how the improvements feel. We’ll analyze the data and see if things correlate as they should. We didn’t use a lot of tires today. With this new format, we are very limited in the use of tires. I didn’t want to use them today to have a better preparation tomorrow.”, Hamilton shared after second practice session.

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“It’s a shame because there were a lot of people in the stands and we spent a lot of time in the garage. We have to see what we can change because we were literally saving tires, which I don’t think is right,” Verstappen said.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen offered an alternative solution to the problem of spending a lot of time in the garage.

“It was quite a restricted Friday because of the tires, but it was the same situation for everyone. If this format (with fewer tires) is maintained, it would be better to have just one practice session on Friday, not two,” said the Dane.