George Russell, Mercedes, Hungaroring, 2018

Mercedes beat Ferrari’s unofficial Hungaroring record as test ends

2018 F1 season

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George Russell claimed the fastest time of the two-day Formula 1 test at the Hungaroring for Mercedes.

The Formula Two championship leader beat Antonio Giovinazzi’s time, by less than a tenth of a second unofficially lowering the best time around the Hungarian Grand Prix track to 1’15.575.

He also completed more than 100 laps for the world champions. But the highest tally of the day went to Kimi Raikkonen, who came within a thousandth of a second of matching Giovinazzi’s time, and Red Bull’s Jake Dennis, the team’s simulator driver making his second test appearance in the RB14. Both manaed 131 tours of the Hungaroring.

Giovinazzi reappeared for Sauber on day two and set the fourth-quickest time. Force India development driver Nikita Mazepin was next, though technical problems on his VJM11 limited him to just 51 laps.

McLaren test driver Lando Norris spent a second day at the wheel of the team’s MCL33. He lost some of the afternoon running due to a series of technical problems.

At Toro Rosso, Sean Gelael took over regular test duties while race drivers Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly shared the workload in the car being run for Pirelli’s tyre test.

Pos.Car numberDriverTeamModelBest timeGapLaps
163George RussellMercedesW091’15.575116
27Kimi RaikkonenFerrariSF71H1’15.6490.074131
326Jake DennisRed BullRB141’17.1021.527131
499Antonio GiovinazziSauberC371’17.5581.983120
534Nikita MazepinForce IndiaVJM111’17.7482.17351
640Robert KubicaWilliamsFW411’18.4512.876103
747Lando NorrisMcLarenMCL331’18.4722.89773
845Artem MarkelovRenaultRS181’18.4962.921108
938Sean GelaelToro RossoSTR131’19.0463.471122
1010Pierre GaslyToro RossoSTR131’19.7904.21575
1128Brendon HartleyToro RossoSTR131’20.2214.64667

2018 F1 season

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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35 comments on “Mercedes beat Ferrari’s unofficial Hungaroring record as test ends”

  1. So, the outright track record of the current layout of this circuit, and, therefore, the benchmark for next season is now even more clearly in the mid-1m15s than it was after yesterday’s session.

    1. I think those times were set on tyres that would not be used on a Grand Prix weekend so you can’t really say

      1. @blackmamba Still, a record nevertheless.

        1. No it is not a record.
          Unofficial record is what this article should say…as usual almost everything about F1 from a journalistic point of view is a whole lot of hype and fluff based on more often than not nothing factual.

          1. It does say unoffial..

          2. @Mark Technically, it is, though as it’s the fastest ever time set for an F1 car by using the official timing systems. An ‘unofficial’ record is a record set in any session except the race itself be it qualifying, a practice, or an official test day session, while an ‘official’ one can, of course, only be set in a race, that’s the point.

          3. Unofficial record is what this article should say

            Unless you’ve only read the first three words of the headline I’m not sure how you failed to spot it…

        2. me try again..
          Unofficial IS what this article should say. ( i’m agreeing with what the article says)
          I then go on to rant about how much of a non story this is ( at last thats what my intention was) … cars with various levels of legality driving around a circuit in testing will never be an official track record

          1. Let me clear it for you with Keith’s quote:

            Unless you’ve only read the first three words of the headline I’m not sure how you failed to spot it…

          2. @mystic how about you take your own advice and read…try to comprehend what you read…then respond……….

          3. @Mark, I suggest you try to comprehend what YOU wrote (twice).
            hint: look up the meaning of ‘should’

          4. @coldfly, at this point you’re just arguing over the use of words. Reading the thread, it’s clear Mark’s intention was to agree that the article saying its an unofficial record is correct. He wasn’t criticising the article and he didn’t miss the fact it said unintentional.

            And on the definition of should: “used to indicate obligation, duty, or correctness, typically when criticizing someone’s actions.”

            So Mark’s use of the word should was correct, in my view, it just wasn’t clear because it’s more often used to criticise rather than agree with.

          5. I think what Mark is trying to say is: “The headline correctly states, as it should, that the record is unofficial.”

          6. jamesluke2488
            2nd August 2018, 13:28

            I get you Mark, your point has nothing to do with the title, as most people seem to be picking up on, its to do with the fact the whole article is pointless as its an unofficial record so whats the point in talking about it!

  2. Next year less aero so slower car

  3. How many Toro Rosso’ cars in this session? And is there some technical explanation on how Sean Gelael manage to beat current drivers?

    1. @ruliemaulana – I assume that Toro Rosso had both their cars for this session. I may be wrong, but from the lap count I would think that the regular drivers shared one of the cars for team testing, since I think I saw somewhere else that Sean Gelael was doing tire testing for Pirelli with the other car. As with any test session, the times don’t paint the whole picture, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

      1. It was actually the other way around.. Gasly and Hartley split the day doing tyre testing for Pirelli..

  4. Another stunning performance from Kubica – just drop him in and he gets it done without issue.
    Still easily better than 80% of the current F1 drivers and could probably keep the best like Alonso and Vettel honest with enough practice!

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      1st August 2018, 21:10

      Is this just a trick message or do you really mean you think Kubica is this good? We haven’t seen him racing in f1 for nearly 8 years! What are you basing his stunning performance from? Basing it on his position in 5th? We can’t really judge anything from this or we could say that Ericsson is the 2nd best driver out there as he was 2nd in practice the other day.

      Better than 80% of the current drivers with 7+ years out of the sport. That is incredibly unlikely.

      1. Champagne is right. Combining all the results from RK last appearances he has definitelly speed within top 10 current drivers.

      2. Agreed. All this hype about Kubica amazes me. He WAS good. Now it is a fantasy for him to make a comeback. In race trim he will probably keep Stroll honest

      3. Regardless, he set the 6th fastest time, in the Williams. That’s impressive no matter how you slice it.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          2nd August 2018, 20:42

          You can’t tell how any team is doing the testing. So concluding anything on the position on the results is pointless. Toro Rosso and the others may not be trying to make sure they are reasonably high up the list. This is not a competition for the teams to get faster times. It is testing for development and working out the teams weaknesses.

  5. The best unofficial time. Bottas successfully defending Vettel’s atacks on the main straight. Lewis doing only one stop on a slow track and very hot day… Hm, this looks like substantial improvements coming from Mercedes team. Now, SF could be worried indeed.

    1. Lol….Hungary…aka no paas zone…Hamilton only doing a 1 stop? No pressure from behind with his wingman holding up Ferrari…How did he hold up the faster Ferrari? Its Hungary like Monaco where passes on track is almost impossible for cars close in performance.tire wear helps of course but its still not easy… so to answer your main assumption.. no Mercedes disnt improve anything… they got lucky because it raines and their car generates more heat in the wet tires…the same behavior degrades there tires faster than Ferrari and red bull in a dry race when under pressure

      1. LOL! The best unofficial time. Bottas successfully defending Vettel’s atacks on the main straight. Lewis doing only one stop on a slow track and very hot day… Hm, this looks like substantial improvements coming from Mercedes team. Now, SF could be worried indeed.

      2. I agree, more wet races please.

    2. ******?Hamilton only doing a 1 stop? No pressure from behind ****

      Toto wolff is crying? He will do his utmost to find out magic despite the fact that he has already copied Ferrari.
      What a disgusting human creature.
      Sign George Russell instead of hammy…
      In the end, your garage will become central laboratory of Ferrari’s R&D.
      Pay to Ferrari and then celebrate..

  6. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    1st August 2018, 21:06

    I do find it interesting that a driver who yesterday was testing for the top team like Ferrari and is now the next day driving for Sauber. He’s maybe brought all of their secrets! Along with the current engine spec it has, he could have made Sauber a top car!

    Well, not exactly. But I still find it surprising that Ferrari are happy with him driving for Sauber the next day and getting a comparison of the cars. It will very likely benefit one of the team a little in some way.

    1. Sauber cars have on board a Ferrari PU

      1. They have also Ferrari chief designer.

    2. You think that drivers are that clever!? Sometimes engineers are a little bit ‘short’ to grasp relevant technical details and a driver with no academic degree should get it in two days? Great!

    3. @thegianthogweed Heh, true.

      Though Sauber get the same 2018 spec Ferrari engine. They also share the same rear suspension and gear box (and perhaps other parts). So they are already up to date on a lot of specs of the “mother” car.

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