The Spanish Ferrari driver led the first free practice session of the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, but in FP2 everything changed for him and even Lando Norris slipped into second position, separating him from his teammate.
Despite this, Carlos Sainz remains confident and ensures that he has a very competitive pace, both for Saturday’s qualifying and for Sunday’s race, so he will finish two tenths behind Charles Leclerc and behind a McLaren in Free Practice 2 he doesn’t care too much.
After Friday’s day, the Spaniard explained why his pace varied so much between the two practice sessions, saying that it had been like “a test day” in which they had tried different configurations to discover what setup was more competitive for the rest of the weekend at the Hungaroring.
“As soon as I left the garage in FP1 I felt very comfortable and very happy with the balance of the car, but obviously you always notice that there are things to improve,” Sainz said.
“We tried several different set-ups in FP2, which caused us to lose a bit of confidence and performance, but we know exactly why, so tomorrow we think we can get back to where we were in FP1 and be more competitive.”
“It’s difficult, but today was a good day to test things because the conditions were very stable. I think it was a very interesting Friday, like a test day, and tomorrow and Sunday we will put in the car what we think is more competitive,” he added.
As for his lap times, which weren’t very promising either in the qualifying simulations or in the long runs, Carlos Sainz explained that he had enough data to believe that he can be really competitive this weekend, just like he has been. been in the last grand prix of the season.
“I didn’t get a good lap on the first lap, so I lost a bit of time. Also the lap was full of traffic, so I’m still confident for Saturday and Sunday, we can go faster,” concluded the Spanish Ferrari driver . .
Carlos Sainz at the wheel of the Ferrari F1-75 in Free Practice 2 of the Hungarian GP
