Mercedes proving 'difficult to drive'

Valtteri Bottas conceded his Mercedes was "difficult to drive" in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix as the Silver Arrows were left trailing title rivals Ferrari and Red Bull at the Hungaroring. Bottas and teammate Lewis Hamilton were sixth and fifth-quickest respectively in both Friday sessions.

Sebastian Vettel set the pace for Friday, with Bottas a full second adrift of the Ferrari man's best time, set in FP2.

Bottas and Hamilton both saw qualifying sim efforts on the ultrasoft tyres end in errors that prevented them from setting a truly representative time.

Mercedes have been quick to point out that the tight and twisting nature of the circuit does not fit the "DNA" of their car and Bottas delivered a pessimistic forecast for the weekend ahead after Friday's sessions.

"Today was not an easy day," he said. "The car was difficult to drive and I struggled to get laps together, especially in FP1.

"We managed to improve the set-up for FP2, but there's still more work to do.

"This is a difficult circuit, you need to have a well-balanced car in order to get all the corners right and we need to get the car more stable.

"We struggled to get the ultrasoft compound tyres working consistently and had some issues with overheating."

Mean looking clouds... ??????

???? Could Hungary have a surprise in store this weekend? #HungarianGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/gIaoNtp92E — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) July 27, 2018

Rain is anticipated across the weekend, which could play into Mercedes hands as it did so spectacularly for Hamilton in Germany, but the reigning champion is hoping for clear skies.

He added: "The Ferraris and the Red Bulls were quite quick and had a little bit more pace than us, so we've got some work to do.

"We will dig deep to try and figure out what changes we make between now and tomorrow. I hope we're able to find something tonight and that tomorrow is dry so we can test whatever changes we make overnight."