"Weak point will always be the start and the grip in the first corners"
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- GPblog.com
Andrew Shovlin is happy with the fact that his Mercedes is the only team that can start on the mediums in Budapest on Sunday. There is a downside though: the Silver Arrows will have to be extra vigilant in the opening phase. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will start on a softer compound.
"We wanted to get the cars on the Medium tyre for the start, that was a bit tighter than we would have liked in Q2 with Valtteri but the gamble paid off," said Shovlin in Mercedes' review. Bottas didn't go out on softs in the second run to be on the safe side, instead sticking to the yellow-cheeked tyre.
Red Bull remain dangerous
Hamilton and Bottas are the only drivers in the top-ten to start on mediums at Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix. Track temperatures can reach sixty degrees Celsius and so Mercedes seem to have an advantage over Red Bull. "Once the race is underway, the Medium should be the better tyre but its weakness is always going to be the start and the grip in the opening corners - that has to be a focus for tomorrow."
A one-stop seems to be going to be a difficult story at the Hungaroring. Still, it will only become clear during the race what all proves possible and not possible strategically. "The race is going to be really tough on the tyres and that could open up options on strategy but the car had good pace on Friday in hot conditions so hopefully we can carry that into the race."