Hungaroring indigestible for Mercedes?
Stopping at the sole result of FP2 of the Hungarian Grand Prix, seeing a Mercedes far from the very top positions is something unprecedented in this 2026.
George Russell finished 5th nine tenths behind leader Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), while Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished 13th as much as 1.9 seconds behind first position.
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If for Russell a certain difficulty in terms of feeling and set-up is undeniable, for Antonelli the situation is different because the Italian essentially did not complete a fast lap and worked on race pace – quite good – after skipping FP1 to make way for Vesti.
There is serenity in the team
Describing Mercedes’ Friday was Bradley Lord, vice team principal: “On the single lap there was a lack of grip and balance. We were unable to get the tires into the ideal temperature window for the single lap. However, in the long runs the car seemed quite consistent and competitive compared to Ferrari, Verstappen and McLaren. This suggests that we need to do things right on the single lap.”
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On the topic of the software bug that slowed them down in previous races, Lord did not elaborate: “Until we have completed a competitive single lap, with a comparative test between the two cars – which was not possible today – we will not have the definitive answer. But we are absolutely confident”.
In short, Mercedes believes it can bounce back on Saturday: “We have a competitive car on every track and we have collected all pole positions so far. At some point the streak will end, but we will do everything not to let it end in Hungary. There will be a lot of work to do overnight and some headaches to solve, but we hope to find a good level of performance ahead of FP3.”
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