Paddy Lowe has said that the entire grid struggled in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix due to the heavy rainfall.
Williams Martini Racing drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin qualified fifteenth and twentieth on the grid respectively.
“It was a tricky session for everyone. We went out on the intermediate tyre with both cars very early, and it quickly became clear that the slick tyre was coming through, so we went out with the pack on two new sets of ultrasofts.”, said Lowe, the team’s Chief Technical Officer.
“Having set a few laps, we decided to stop for another set which nobody else did at that moment, and we gained a big profit after Lance set a quick enough lap to get him into Q2. Unfortunately, Sergey had the worse side of traffic at that time and didn’t manage to put the lap together for promotion to Q2.”
Stroll’s Q2 was over early when he spun and hit the barrier at turn ten, and although he was able to return to the pits, he did not return to the track.
“In Q2, we went out on the dry tyre and it was the other way around,” said Lowe. “It became too wet so we pitted and Lance for the intermediate for what was actually the only lap which was going to count as the rain fell heavier.
“Unfortunately, Lance spun off at turn ten and damaged his front wing, so we kept the car in the garage on his return and no one else was improving.”
Lowe was confident that Sirotkin’s car’s performance had been promising so far this weekend, although it was not reflected in his grid position.
“It’s a good grid position for Lance, with great driving to achieve that. It was unfortunate for Sergey because I think the car showed more promise this weekend than his grid position would indicate. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow,” added Lowe.
