Charles Leclerc has backed the "exciting" 'Alternative Tyre Allocation' trial after finishing fastest in Friday practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver finished faster than Lando Norris at the end of his qualifying simulation at the Hungaroring to provide optimism of a strong weekend. But the times were far from representative as teams opted for different run plans to navigate the reduced allocation of 11 tyres for the weekend, as part of the trial offered by F1 and Pirelli to help improve sustainability. As part of the reduction from 13 allocated tyres per car, Hard tyres will be mandated for Q1, Mediums for Q2 and Softs for Q3 in qualifying, leading to a lack of running for some drivers in practice. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton took aim at the reduction in track time when addressing his day, but Leclerc has provided a more positive outlook. Reacting to his performance, the Monégasque conceded: "It's very difficult to read into free practice. "It is something we expected being the first weekend on this format, with everyone trying different things. "It is nice because we will go into qualifying not really knowing where we are - I am sure that's exciting. "But the feeling was pretty good, so this is positive."
Ferrari must 'focus on ourselves'
Red Bull finished outside the top 10 with both cars, with Max Verstappen only 11th quickest. But refusing to get ahead of himself, Leclerc was quick to note the Dutchman ran exclusively on the Medium tyres. "They only used one set in FP2 so we still expect them to be the strongest team," said Leclerc. "We just need to focus on ourselves. We know where we need to improve the car, there were some corners where I wasn't confident. "It is very clear where we need to work."
Most read
