Helmut Marko saw McLaren do something ‘strange’ at F1 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko saw McLaren do one thing ‘strange’ during Formula 1’s second free practice session for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.

Lando Norris set the pace around the Hungaroring in FP2 with the McLaren driver’s 1:17.788 lap. The 24-year-old eclipsed Red Bull rival Max Verstappen by 0.243 seconds. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz posted the third-fastest lap in the qualifying simulations, 0.397s off the pace.

A crash by the other Ferrari pilot, Charles Leclerc, 20 minutes into the session also sparked a red flag period. The 26-year-old lost control of his car after riding the exit kerb out of Turn 4 and found the inside wall. Norris then laid down a marker that Verstappen could not eclipse.

Helmut Marko found it ‘strange’ McLaren fitted hard tyres in FP2 for the Hungarian GP

Norris set the fastest lap of the session 39 minutes into FP2 while Verstappen began the Red Bull driver’s qualifying sim. The McLaren star’s lap proved enough to top the timesheet, too, before attentions turned to race runs. But Marko then saw McLaren do something ‘strange’.

The Red Bull chief found it odd that McLaren fitted a set of the hard compound Pirelli tyres for their race runs. Only McLaren opted to fit the hardest compound of tyres that Pirelli has taken to the Hungarian GP for their race sims, with most teams favouring the medium tyres.

READ MORE: The most successful F1 teams and engine manufacturers at the Hungarian GP

Mercedes and Aston Martin elected to split their runs with Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll using soft tyres while George Russell and Fernando Alonso took mediums. But McLaren put Norris and Oscar Piastri on the tyres Marko thinks will likely be needed in the Hungarian GP.

“If I saw correctly, they have already used a set of hard tyres,” Marko told GPblog. “That’s a bit strange given the hot temperatures.”

Lando Norris on hards averaged a better race pace than Max Verstappen on mediums

Pirelli chose the C3 tyres as the hards for the Hungarian GP, with the C4 being the mediums and the C5 being the softs. But the Hungarian GP is expected to be the hottest race this year so far. So, the teams are likely to need the C3 tyres in the race to prevent any extra pit stops.

But F1 teams only get two sets of the hard compound tyres for each race weekend in 2024. Pirelli provides a total of 13 sets of tyres including eight softs and three mediums. So, Norris and Piastri both running the hards in FP2 leaves McLaren with one set for the Hungarian GP.

READ MORE: Five unforgettable Hungarian Grand Prix including Alonso and Hamilton’s spat

McLaren will at least have some knowledge about how the C3 tyres cope with the blistering conditions at the Hungaroring. Norris’ average race pace on the hard tyres was also quicker than what Verstappen managed on the mediums, with which Sergio Perez was the quickest.

Norris averaged a 1:24.146 over Piastri’s 1:24.755 on the hard tyres as Perez and Verstappen set 1:23.939 and 1:24.364 averages on the mediums. Hamilton set the benchmark race pace on the soft tyres in FP2 for the Hungarian GP but the Mercedes ace’s time was just 1:24.796.