Verstappen fears Red Bull can't match Ferrari in the dry

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Max Verstappen has conceded that Red Bull are on the back foot in Hungary compared to their Ferrari rivals - at least, as long as the conditions remain hot, dry and sunny.

Carlos Sainz was fastest in first practice at the Hungaroring with Verstappen second quickest, while Charles Leclerc took control in FP2 which Verstappen slipped to fourth, almost three tenths slower than the Monegasque.

"I think the Ferraris will be ahead of us this weekend and it will be hard to beat them," Verstappen admitted after the end of the day's track activity.

Read also: Leclerc quickest with Norris in the mix in Hungary FP2

But while Ferrari might have the upper hand right now, conditions are expected to change dramatically overnight with storms and heavy rain expected to move in and last all day.

"We'll try to close the gap as much as we can overnight, and see what the weather will give us as well tomorrow," he commented. "In the dry we can't compete, so maybe in the rain we can. Who knows?

"The weather looks like it will have an impact on us. In the dry we might struggle, but it could be a different story in the rain. We'll see tomorrow.”

Verstappen said that he was still chasing the ideal balance for the RB18 at the Hungaroring.

"It's a bit tricky as expected around here. We're just trying to find a bit of a balance from high to low speed," he explained. "Sometimes it works a bit better, sometimes it's a bit more tricky. But yes, there's still bit of work to do."

His team mate Sergio Perez was also struggling to find pace today. The Mexican was sixth in FP1 but almost nine tenths slower than Sainz, and in the later session he dropped even further behind to ninth.

But despite that, Perez was optimistic about Red Bull's chances for the rest of the weekend - especially if the weather comes to Red Bull's aid.

"It was a day of trying very different bits to definitely get comfortable with the car," he explained. "We got a good idea, good understanding of the day, so hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to show what we've learned today.

"That should also transform into the high fuel and low fuel pace," he added. "I'm fairly optimistic, but certainly the Ferrari looked very strong today. They are definitely very, very fast.

"We must put everything together tomorrow for qualifying and I am looking forward to it," he said. "Hopefully tomorrow with a bit of rain things can become a bit more mixed. It should mix things up nicely!"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.