The first free practice sessions for the ...

Published on 09 August 1996 by Verstappen Info Page

The first free practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix were without major events. In the morning session Irvine was surprisingly fastest before Herbert (!) and Hill. In the afternoon session it was Schumacher who set the pace at first. Only in one of his last laps Hill was able to pass him and became first with 1:21.144. Jos didn't do too bad either. He was 9th for a while but ended 13th. See Hungarian Grand Prix results for the complete results.

After the afternoon practice session Jos declared: "I'm pretty happy. We made some good changes to the car and improved it throughout the second session. There's a lot of tyre wear here, so it was important not to damage the tyres, but we improved the car little by little."

"We didn't go out this morning because the track was really too dusty, but I'm pretty happy up to now. We have understeer, of course, but then just about everyone has understeer here."

"I'm sure that there are more improvements to come during the next day or so. We have a new rear wing here with more downforce than ever before. So far, it's been working well but we have to look at the aerodynamic balance and the set-up too."

Tom Walkinshaw declared: "It's been a very good practice session. For the first time for several races we've got through the programme that we set ourselves, with positive results."