Ricciardo “very, very happy” with top ten result on Friday

Daniel Ricciardo’s first day of running at the Hungaroring was a positive one, with the RB driver leaving the track “very, very happy” after classifying within the top ten during his FP2 outing.

Although the ‘Honey Badger’ ended the opening day of running with a smile on his face, the first hour of practice wasn’t as joyous, seeing Ricciardo and RB struggling to come to terms with their package in the hot Hungarian conditions.

The team arrived in Budapest with a relatively similar car to the one they ran in Silverstone, only bringing “minor” upgrades to the front covers and rear covers of the VCARB 01 this weekend, making the task slightly easier than their previous upgrade-unveiling Fridays. 

Thus, Ricciardo started FP1 with a thick coating of flow-vis paint on his VCARB 01, allowing the team to capture data on their reprofiled aerodynamics. 

Wasting no time, the #3 instantly left the pitlane on the medium compound tyre, setting the fourth fastest time in the opening minutes.

Ricciardo naturally fell down the order, with his second push lap placing him in P10, a short distance behind the hard tyre-running Ferrari duo.

Beginning his qualifying simulations at the mid-point of the session, Ricciardo recorded an opening soft tyre time of 1:19.578s, a lap which left him down in P12 as the chequered flag was waved.

“I’m definitely a lot happier than… I didn’t have much of a smile after FP1, I wasn’t that happy with where we were with the car and the feeling,” Ricciardo said.

“I felt like we had quite a bit of work to do, so work we did!

“And, yeah, I was much happier in FP2.

“I think, yeah, we’re there.

“You know, obviously, okay, tomorrow is a new day but I’m very, very happy with where we ended today in terms of balance, feeling and obviously classification, we’re in the fight so yeah, we’ll keep it rolling for tomorrow.”

With everything coming together in the afternoon session, Ricciardo was rewarded with the eighth-fastest time of FP2. 

He jumped into a temporary top-three slot after his first run, sitting four-tenths back on his Red Bull rival Sergio Perez’s medium tyre benchmark.

Aborting his next lap, Ricciardo was in the perfect position as the session was red-flagged due to Charles Leclerc’s heavy shunt at Turn 4. 

As the session restarted, RB got their timing right in sending Ricciardo out slightly after his competitors.

The quieter track allowed the Australian to avoid traffic interference, an issue that had plagued a lot of drivers during the session, seeing him go on to record a time of 1:18.371s.

That lap was quick enough to secure Ricciardo P8, just under six-tenths back on his former McLaren teammate’s benchmark as the chequered flag was waved.

“[The long run] felt good, I would say all of FP2 was solid,” he said.

“My soft lap was, yeah, good up until the last sector.

“But in general, the session went well.

“Low fuel, high fuel, I was pretty happy and comfortable with the car, so we’ll fine-tune tonight but I would say, compared to where we were this morning, there’s a lot less work to do tonight so I’m happy about that.”

Ricciardo finished the session over 1.2 seconds ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who sat back in P19 with front suspension gremlins impacting his hour of running.

Returning to the grid at this same circuit last season, the #3 qualified in thirteenth place in 2023.

With positive vibes fuelling the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix winner, Ricciardo has his sights set on achieving an even better feat in tonight’s qualifying session. 

“It’s one of those ones… who knows like it’s just practice but, yeah, I feel like we had a Friday that we needed and we were looking for,” Ricciardo said.

“Normally when we have these Fridays it sets up a good weekend, so yeah… hell yeah!

“Let’s go!”

Free Practice 1 kicks off at 8:30 PM tonight, the final warm-up to an expectedly exciting and tight qualifying session, dictating the starting grid for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Image: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

2024 Hungarian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday July 19th:

FP1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday July 20th:

FP2: 01:00 – 02:00

FP3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday July 21st:

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race Start: 23:00

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