"They seem to have found something lately that helped their performance" - Fernando Alonso 'concerned' about McLaren's pace at 2022 F1 Hungarian GP

Fernando Alonso expressed his concerns regarding McLaren’s pace at the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP after Team Papaya showed some promising pace during Friday's practice. Speaking to planetf1 ahead of qualifying, Alonso said:

“I think they were very fast [in the long runs]. But they were really fast also in [Paul] Ricard so they seem to have found something lately that helped their performance.”

“So yeah, we are concerned, but to be honest, we have so many things going on already in our team that we didn’t look that much into those.”

The battle between McLaren and Alpine for P4 in the constructors' championship is starting to heat up after the French squad started to up its game to score consistently with both cars.

While Alpine came out on top in France last weekend, McLaren seems to be much stronger around the Hungaroring. In qualifying, Lando Norris managed to edge out both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon to secure P4 on the grid, while Daniel Ricciardo has also shown some encouraging pace throughout the weekend.

With just four points separating the two teams in the constructors' standings, McLaren could potentially reclaim P4 once the checkered flag falls in Hungary.

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Fernando Alonso expects changing conditions during the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP to make Friday learnings irrelevant

Fernando Alonso expects the changing conditions throughout Saturday and Sunday to make the data that teams have gathered on Friday irrelevant, potentially leading to unexpected results. Speaking to planetf1, Alonso said:

“It has been tricky to understand the tyres. All three compounds, they behave very differently.”

“Rain [on Saturday], maybe a cooler day on Sunday. So not sure how much information or useful information we got, but the car felt fast so I’m happy to be here.”

With very few feeder series running in between F1 sessions, combined with Saturday’s rain washing away whatever little rubber that cars had put in on Friday, the track will likely be less grippy on Sunday. This will have a significant impact on tire wear, as well as on tire warm-ups.