Written by Silvia Parodi, Edited by Owen Bradley
It was Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. who topped the time sheets in FP1, with Lando Norris later going fastest in FP2 for McLaren, with the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc bringing out the red flag after a crash in Turn 4.
The opening day of the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix commenced on Friday, with the first two Free Practice sessions. The track faced challenges due to recent floods, but fortunately, the drivers were able to get on track and find their pace.
During the initial first practice session, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. put in an impressive performance, leading the pack ahead of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
Ferrari introduced floor updates to address the bouncing effect on the Hungaroring track, while Max Verstappen experimented with front-wing updates, securing second position, as teammate Sergio Perez found himself just outside the Top 10, with many suspecting that Red Bull may not be the strongest team coming into this race, it appears that the team are
Mercedes' George Russell finished in fourth place, followed by Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou in fifth. However, Lewis Hamilton settled for 10th position, a couple of weeks on since his historic victory at the British Grand Prix, the 7-Time World Champion looking to build on the momentum with Mercedes taking glory at the last two races.
The Haas drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Oliver Bearman struggled, finishing at the bottom of the FP1 grid. With the Hungaroring a more technical circuit than Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring, where the team had managed to find positive points-finishing results, Haas may be in for a difficult weekend in Hungary.
The second practice session saw a change in the top 3 positions, with Lando Norris taking the lead, despite his teammate Oscar Piastri's modest 13th-place finish. Max Verstappen followed closely, with Carlos Sainz securing third position, with both drivers over two tenths from the leading Brit.
Sergio Perez (Red Bull) claimed the fourth spot, while both Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, finished in the top 6. However, it was an unfortunate session for Charles Leclerc, as he ran over the exit curbs at Turn 4, sending his Ferrari directly into the outside barriers heading into Turn 5, ending his session prematurely.
This crash came after a positive opening practice session, which saw both Ferrari's inside the Top 3. After a difficult few races for Ferrari and Leclerc, they will be looking to regain their opening practice pace as we continue forward into the weekend.
With just one remaining practice session to get acclimatised to the circuit and conditions, it appears that the margins will likely be very tight at the top. The ones to watch as we head into Qualifying, will certainly be McLaren's Lando Norris, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. as well as Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
With the Hungaroring being known as "Monaco without the barriers" - Track position and qualifying pace will be pivotal for the Grand Prix, with only a handful of overtaking zones around the circuit.
The Final practice session begins at 12:30pm local time, with the Qualifying session starting at 16:00pm later in the day.
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