Oscar Piastri believes there could be "a lot up for grabs" at the Hungaroring this weekend after McLaren's upgrades to the MCL40.
The Australian sat out FP1 in Budapest with F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli in the cockpit of his car for the opening hour of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
But when he did take back over for the free practice session, he found the combination of the gusty weather and the low-grip track surface difficult to handle.
"Very, very challenging for sure," the 25-year-old said after FP2 "I think the track conditions are pretty challenging out there. Very windy.
"The new parts of the track are not very grippy and are kind of... not breaking apart, but they're very worn, so it's just a very challenging circuit at the moment.
"And yeah, obviously missing a practice session has made it pretty tough."
Having finished FP2 down in eighth and nine-tenths off the pace of Lando Norris, who was third fastest in the sister McLaren, Piastri was quick to point out that he was driving without the luxury of the revised floor and aerodynamic updates the Woking-based squad has introduced to his team-mate's car.
"I didn't have them today, so I think on Lando's car they've been working as we expected, which is good," he said before sharing his first impressions.
"I don't think they've completely changed the car, which, obviously, we weren't expecting, but would have been nice.
"But we'll see what it's like on my car tomorrow, and hopefully we can have a successful day."
As such, Piastri feels that a strong result is within reach, with the competitive balance at the sharp end of the grid still concealed after the first two hours of track action.
"The Ferraris have looked very quick in both sessions, but I think Lando looked competitive in that one, especially," the nine-time grand prix winner added.
"The Mercedes is very hard to read. So yeah, let's wait and see tomorrow.
"But I think if we execute a good day, then it seems like there can be a lot up for grabs."
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