BUDAPEST: Red Bull used its first technical ‘joker’ of the season overnight Friday to make set-up changes to their Formula One cars ahead of qualifying for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
The team broke a technical curfew, which bans them from working within the confines of the circuit for an eight-hour period, to tweak Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon’s cars in a bid to improve their speed and performance at the Hungaroring, which will host the GP on Sunday.
Teams are allowed to break the curfew twice a season.
Thai driver Albon said the team had been set back by the poor weather at the track.
“We are trying to understand the car at a new circuit after two weeks at the Red Bull Ring and then, with the downpour, we couldn’t really do anything in second practice,” said Albon.
The team had a challenging time in Friday’s practice with Verstappen eighth in the dry session in the morning, five places ahead of Albon.