F1 chiefs alter Hungarian Grand Prix track after ‘gross mistake’ as Fernando Alonso reacts
Lando Norris is set to start the Hungarian Grand Prix in pole position, but the Hungaroring circuit has been altered.
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen will battle for race victory on an altered Hungarian Grand Prix circuit after the FIA decided to remove a piece of astroturf hours before the race was due to get underway. The track modification came in light of Yuki Tsunoda's qualifying crash, with the subsequent red flag angering two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
Norris kept his cool during a dramatic qualifying session to finish ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Red Bull genius Verstappen will start in third ahead of Ferrari star Carlos Sainz, while Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton is set to begin the Grand Prix in P5.
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Saturday’s qualifying session was stopped in Q3 due to a second red flag after Tsunoda slipped off the damp track at Turn 5 and slammed into the barriers. The incident destroyed the left side of Tsunoda’s car and ended his afternoon.
And, according to Racing News 365, the FIA have already removed a strip of astroturf that contributed to the crash.
Moments before the crash happened, Aston Martin star Fernando Alonso was on his way to securing his fastest lap time of the afternoon. But he was unable to clock a time after the session was halted.
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And the Spaniard lashed out at F1 bosses as he told DAZN: “The truth is that the FIA sometimes gets it right and sometimes they make gross mistakes. Today they had made one.
"They put out the red flag when I was in the last corner, which is surprising. There was accident at turn eight (five). Normally they always wait for the cars to complete the lap. It’s the ‘spoken norm’.”
While Alonso was clearly annoyed after Tsunoda's crash, Piastri opted to take a lighter approach to the incident before Q3 resumed. The Australian was told by his engineer: “[Daniel] Ricciardo I believe is the car behind you. I can’t tell if it’s Ricciardo or Tsunoda but they’re 9th and 10th.”
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And Piastri responded by saying: “I think Tsunoda’s missing a couple of wheels, so I don’t think he’ll be doing many laps.”
The Hungarian Grand Prix is set to get underway at 2pm BST, with Norris chasing a second race victory of the season and Verstappen going after his eighth.
And ahead of the race, Norris explained: “We’re in the best position to cope with whatever the weather delivers. The car is going fine, I feel like I’m driving well and we’re looking forward to putting in another strong performance on track.”
