When Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses fame waved the chequered flag after 70 laps of the Hungaroring, many fans assumed it marked the start of a four-week break. The reality is a little different. In fact we still have work to complete at the Hungaroring before the two-week factory shutdown begins next Monday.

BudaTest

We remain in Hungary for post-race testing, running a mule car to support Pirelli with tyre development, as well as a two-year-old A523 for Testing of Previous Cars (TPC). Reserve Driver Paul Aron will be behind the wheel on Day 1 of the test, while Pierre and Franco will split duties on Day 2 between the morning and afternoon sessions. It promises to be an important day of data collection to aid our ongoing development.

Fencing, Familiar Faces and Fantastic Facilities

The Hungaroing has seen a recent makeover with a completely new grandstand and Pit Lane and Paddock facilities. The result is an impressive new building block fit with new viewing areas and a facility to match some of the best race tracks on the calendar.

On Thursday, for the usual media day, our drivers met the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal winning Hungarian Fencing Team. Pierre and Franco had a go at the sport, donning white jackets and Épées in hand before a photo with the famous gold medals, which the Hungarian quartet won in Paris last year.

Pierre was then reunited with some familiar faces in the Thursday Press Conference alongside world championship leader Oscar Piastri and former team-mate Esteban Ocon.

Franco, meanwhile, found fun in throwing tennis balls around the Paddock.

On-track, things were far from plain sailing. Both practice sessions offered signs of a challenging weekend ahead. Pierre completed 52 laps in the day, totalling 228km, while Franco added six more, bringing his total to 254km. One of the key limitations Pierre reported was a lack of grip and balance, with the A525 sliding across the track surface. On-track too was Paul, who was in the Sauber for the second time this season. His session was curtailed with a technical issue but, still, a good experience in Formula 1 for him.

Unfortunately, Saturday brought little improvement. Despite a significant overnight effort from the team - at the track and back at base in Enstone - Pierre continued to struggle with understeer and was unable to progress beyond Q1, ending Qualifying 17th. On the other side of the garage, Franco appeared more satisfied with the balance and felt increasingly confident in the cockpit, thanks to the overnight effort from his engineers. He progressed through Q1 and qualified 14th.

A challenging Sunday

After rain earlier in the day, there was a possibility of further wet weather affecting the race - but the 40th running of the Hungarian Grand Prix ultimately stayed dry. Given our starting positions, we opted to split the strategies: Pierre was one of only two drivers to start on the Hard compound, while Franco lined up on the Mediums, like the majority of the grid.

However, the limited grip offered by the Hard tyres saw Pierre lose ground off the line. Franco also encountered an issue, ran wide, and found himself circulating just one place ahead of his team-mate during the opening stint. Running a two-stop strategy, Franco pitted on laps 13 and 35 for fresh tyres, but compromised pit stops – a suspected software issue which is being investigated by the team - hindered his progress and he ultimately finished 18th.

Pierre, by contrast, was on a one-stop strategy, running a long second stint on the Mediums after pitting on lap 32. He reached the chequered flag in 17th, but a post-race penalty of ten seconds was applied for an on-track incident with Carlos Sainz at Turn 4, demoting him to 19th in the final classification.

With the two-week summer break just around the corner, the pause provides an important opportunity for the whole team to reset and come back stronger for the final ten races of the season.