Lewis Hamilton has called on Mercedes to re-introduce a recently discarded part of the W15, as he bids to claim his ninth Hungarian Grand Prix triumph.
The British driver sealed his ninth victory at Silverstone in the previous round - a record number of wins at the same circuit in F1, and is hoping to match that achievement at the Hungaroring.
Hamilton was unhappy with how FP1 and FP2 at the Hungaroring played out, contending that the team was not "on form" during the weekend-opening practice sessions. However, he believes Mercedes knows why it was struggling for pace during practice.
He finished the first hour of practice 10th fastest but improved to seventh in the second. Meanwhile, team-mate George Russell had a slightly more fruitful day, ending the two sessions in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
The seven-time drivers' champion felt that something was missing in the set-up of his Mercedes, but did add he believes the team understands what the issue was.
"Today's not been a good day, really," the 39-year-old said after FP2 on the outskirts of Budapest.
"Weather's been good, and it's been nice to be here, but we've not really been on form - so the car hasn't felt good set-up wise, but I think we have an idea why.
"We'll just work overnight, but not the best prep [preparation] so far."
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Hamilton hoping for return of discarded W15 part
In addition to the set-up changed required, Hamilton also suggested the team needs to re-introduce a previously used part on the W15.
The 104-time grand prix winner will be hoping the Brackley-based team can re-capture the form that has seen it seal back-to-back victories for the first time in the contemporary ground-effects era in the two most recent rounds.
Hamilton also confirmed that no major changes were made to his car between Friday's practice sessions, with the bulk of the work seemingly set to be made ahead of the third and final hour on Saturday.
"Little tweaks," he replied when asked what was done between FP1 and FP2. "The car was pretty much the same.
“There's a particular thing that we left [off the car] that we changed into this weekend that we probably need to get back on.
"It's all relatively close otherwise - we couldn't do the pace that the other guys did today, but the long-run pace was pretty decent at the end."
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