Marcus Ericsson admitted it was “a mixed day” at the Hungarian Grand Prix as he struggled in his Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team C37-Ferrari at the Hungaroring.
The Swede narrowly avoided crashing out in Free Practice 1 when he put a wheel onto the grass on the entry to the final corner and spun, and he finished slowest in the session.
Ericsson improved to sixteenth in the afternoon session but spun again, this time at turn eleven.
“It was a mixed day for me.” said Ericsson. “FP1 was a bit messy, with some spins that damaged my tyres.”
The spin in the morning cost him running time for the rest of the session and Ericsson states that it was not the best way to start the weekend, with the Swede ending up more than four-tenths of a second down on test driver Antonio Giovinazzi, who was in for Charles Leclerc for the session.
Ericsson completed 42 laps in Free Practice 2 compared to just twelve in the morning and the Sauber driver felt that made up for it.
“We could not run as much as we wanted to after that, so it was not the best first session,” he said. “We made up for it in FP2, where we completed a good number of laps.”
After a mixed day, Ericsson knows there is work to do if they are to get the best out of the weekend.
“We have some work to do overnight, and will do our best to optimise for tomorrow,” said the Swede.
