The FIA has decided to replace part of the grass strip at Turn 5 of the Hungaroring circuit ahead of the Grand Prix, after the area contributed to Tsunoda’s accident during qualifying.
At the end of Q3 in the Hungarian Grand Prix, the RB driver lost control of the car, exiting the long right-hand corner on his final flying lap, and crashed violently into the barriers with the left side of his car. The driver will exit the car with some bruises.
Tsunoda, pushing to the limit at the end of the session, went wide and found himself on the grassy strip on the right side of the escape road, making him vulnerable to an issue that had already been reported by drivers.
“It was mentioned in the drivers’ briefing,” said RB CEO Peter Bayer. “The ground had slightly dipped, creating a bump [causata dall’avvallamento] that has a similar effect to that of a sausage curb. He found it..”
After an inspection—where Bayer revealed that FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem had asked his team to examine the area more closely—the federation decided to dig up and fill the last 4 meters of the grassy strip with gravel.
This means that if a driver were to go off track like Tsunoda did during Sunday’s race, they would still encounter a deterrent at the track limits but should be able to continue without being thrown into the barriers at the exit of Turn 5.
In a statement from the FIA regarding the overnight work, it reads: “Following Yuki Tsunoda’s incident during qualifying, the FIA reviewed all available data as usual for any on-track incident. After consulting with the circuit, overnight modifications were made, and the last four meters of the grassy strip behind the curb at the exit of Turn 5 were replaced with gravel..”
Tsunoda finished qualifying in tenth place and could not improve due to his incident, while his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, managed to surpass him, qualifying ninth in the final rush when Q3 resumed.
“Both were in Q3 for the second time this year,” Bayer said about Red Bull’s result. “Honestly, after Barcelona, Spielberg, and Silverstone, it’s nice to be back up front.” “The car was really well set up here.” I think a lot is possible in the race“
When asked if the low-speed layout of the Hungaroring is favoring RB after a series of challenging races since the introduction of the problematic Barcelona update, Bayer replied: “The slow corners here help us. Daniel’s car, for example, was completely reverted to the Miami configuration. He felt very comfortable with it there. Everything came together well for him here. The high temperature, the soft tires, and then the car in the Miami configuration, along with our strength in the slow corners, which has been evident here.”