Oscar Piastri was forced to make changes to his McLaren for FP2 at the Hungarian Grand Prix after the MCL39 "behaved a bit unexpectedly" during FP1.
The Australian finished second fastest in the first two free practice hours at the Hungaroring, with Lando Norris topping the timing board in each session.
Whilst a mere 19 milliseconds behind his team-mate in the first, he found himself almost three-tenths of a second adrift in the second.
Nonetheless, the eight-time grand prix winner was relatively happy with the first day of running in Budapest, where he took his maiden victory 12 months ago.
When asked if he was pretty pleased with his work out on track, the 24-year-old confirmed he was.
"I think generally, yes," said Piastri. "We've had to change a few things and try and make the car a bit better, but the performance has been very good. So all in all, pretty happy.
"Some things to tidy up. It wasn't the smoothest of FP2s, but I think the underlying pace is good, so excited for the rest of the weekend."
Explaining what led to him not being quite on the pace of Norris, Piastri admitted changes were needed to his car, with further "fine-tuning" still to come.
"I think just the grip level was very high today," he said. "The car has been quick all day, just in FP1 it behaved a bit unexpectedly, so we changed a few things and made it a lot better for FP2, but yeah, now just fine-tuning the normal things.
"I think just the group level was a lot higher than we expected, especially compared to last year. So just those things."
Charles Leclerc finished both sessions in third and was able to keep close company with Piastri. Nonetheless, the McLaren driver is optimistic for the rest of the weekend, despite pointing out the SF-25 showed good form over one lap.
"I think this is a track that should suit us quite well, and it has done previously," he added.
"But Ferrari looked quick in FP1. I've not seen the long runs from FP2, but I think we're in a good place."
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Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes and Nick Golding, as they discuss a busy practice Friday at the Hungarian GP.
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