Full focus for Honda HRC at Balaton: Lecuona fourth fastest, Vierge hungry for more

“I’m happy, to be honest. I didn’t expect to be so fast, and I’m not sure if it’s just because no one has previous data for this track, maybe that helped me a bit. One of my strengths since I was a kid is being able to quickly learn any track. It’s true, I had a small crash in the second half of FP2, but the team did a great job repairing the bike and allowed me to get back on it. With just a few small changes, I was able to be quicker on used tyres, and that’s positive. For sure, everyone will improve tomorrow, so let’s keep our feet on the ground, keep working, and try to understand where we can improve the bike setup. Our bike is quite competitive here in certain sectors, like the strong braking areas, which is one of Honda’s strengths, to be honest. But when we check the acceleration zones, we definitely need to improve. As I said, today was the first day for everyone, so we won’t have a clear picture of our position until after qualifying, I guess. We have some ideas as to where to work on the bike, like in the electronics area, to try to exploit the braking zones even more in certain parts of the track. In terms of general setup, we need to find a bit more grip because this afternoon was really hot, and we lacked some traction. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

"So, it's the first day here at Balaton Park. The reality is that we're struggling a lot. It's true that the gap to the top five isn’t too big, but even so, I’ve been having trouble throughout the day and don’t feel comfortable with the bike. We’re working hard to improve, focusing on the small details, but the feeling is missing for now, especially with the rear tyre. In some sections, particularly sectors one and two, the feeling isn’t so bad, but then I lose a lot of time in sectors three and four. So, we’ll focus on that and see if we can improve there. It feels as if I’m riding the bike with just the front tyre, as the rear isn’t helping at all. It’s difficult to ride like that because every time I try to use the rear to brake or accelerate, I completely lose grip, and it gets worse. It’s tough because I’m feeling like I’m on the limit, but my lap times aren’t improving, so I’m not happy with this first day."