Mercedes began its first day at the Hungarian Grand Prix hoping to uphold its momentum from last week’s race in Spa, but by the end of Friday, the Silver Arrows were nowhere near Ferrari’s benchmark performance over a single lap.
George Russell led the team's charge in fifth in FP2, but the Briton finished almost a second adrift of pace-setter Lewis Hamilton, while championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli endured an even more frustrating afternoon in 13th after failing to complete a representative qualifying simulation.
For a team that has dominated Saturdays all season, the opening day at the Hungaroring raised more questions than answers.
Ferrari throws down the gauntlet
Mercedes quickly discovered that Hungary presented a very different challenge from previous rounds.
The resurfaced sections of the track, combined with gusty winds and unusually low grip, left both drivers struggling to find confidence on fresh tyres. Russell admitted the conditions caught almost everyone by surprise.
“It was quite a strange day out there, I think, for everybody,” he said after FP2.
"Budapest is an amazing track to drive, but they've resurfaced half of the track. Super bumpy, a lot of it's breaking up around the last couple of corners, which is making it quite strange to to drive on.
“Our single lap didn't look great, our long run looked more competitive. But what I guess we potentially feared with Ferrari seemed to be the case, they looked very, very strong.”
©Mercedes
Russell believes Mercedes can still recover ground before qualifying, but conceded Ferrari currently holds the upper hand.
“This weekend is a totally different beast,” he said. “These power units are pretty impressive on this short track, having 350kW coming out of all the corners and the rear tyres are getting blasted.
“We’ve got work to do as a team. Ferrari are a good step ahead of everyone right now.
“For both Kimi and I the car was far from great to be honest and I think there is room to improve. It was really windy today and I think the wind is going to be shifting, so that could be changing a lot.”
One-lap weakness becomes Mercedes' priority
Deputy team principal Bradley Lord pinpointed qualifying pace as the team's biggest concern after Friday's running.
“Lack of grip, lack of balance on a single lap,” Lord said. “Both drivers initially having to wind front-end out of it to find that nice sort of gentle understeer balance you want here.
“But quite inconsistent, quite tricky. Tricky on the new tarmac as well, so no doubt down to just not quite getting the tyres in the right window for that single lap.
“But then on the long runs, looked pretty consistent and pretty competitive versus Ferrari, Verstappen, and the McLarens. So that suggests the car's in a half-decent window, but we've just got to get things right on the single lap.”
That contrast offers Mercedes encouragement. While its qualifying pace deserted it, the race simulations suggested the W17 remains firmly in the fight if the team can unlock performance on low fuel.
Pole streak under threat
Mercedes has started every Grand Prix from pole position this season, but Lord acknowledged that remarkable run now faces arguably its toughest test yet.
“We've got a car that's been competitive at every track. We’ve been fortunate enough to be on pole at each of them so far,” commented Lord.
“I suppose at some point a run like that comes to an end, but we'll be doing everything we can to make sure it's not here in Hungary.
“Lots of work to do overnight, bit of head-scratching, and hopefully we find a good chunk of performance going into FP3.”
©Mercedes
There was at least one positive takeaway. Mercedes believes it has finally solved the straight-line speed issue that had hampered Russell at Silverstone and Spa, even if Friday's disrupted running prevented a definitive comparison.
“Until we've done a competitive single lap and been able to compare the two cars - because we've not been able to do that today - then you won't have the final, final definitive answer," Lord added.
“But yes, we absolutely are confident we've found it, we've eliminated that, and that it's no longer hindering or hampering George's ultimate performance potential.”
Whether that confidence translates into qualifying pace on Saturday will determine if Mercedes can keep its perfect pole record alive – or if Ferrari's resurgence finally ends one of the season's most remarkable streaks.
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