- In second practise for this weekend’s Hungarian.
- Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc outran Lando Norris.
- McLaren to complete a “double top” for Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc completed his quickest lap in one minute and 18.445 seconds, two tenths faster than Norris, demonstrating.
He has recovered from the trauma of his crashing exit while in the lead at last Sunday’s French Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull, the series leader and the reigning world champion, was second while Daniel Ricciardo, driving the second McLaren, was fifth. Carlos Sainz, who was fastest in the first practise session in his Ferrari, was third, 0.231 adrift.
On his 41st birthday, Fernando Alonso, a two-time winner, finished sixth for Alpine ahead of his buddy and longtime adversary, four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin, who is approaching retirement.
After suffering with balance, George Russell finished eighth for Mercedes, ahead of Sergio Perez, whose problems with his Red Bull continued, and Valtteri Bottas, who finished 10th for Alfa Romeo.
Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time champion, also had a challenging day and finished 11th in the second Mercedes, complaining about his car’s ongoing instability.
Esteban Ocon, the unexpected winner from last year, finished 13th in the second Alpine, but he may take heart from the prospect of drastically different weather on Saturday and Sunday.
He took advantage of the circumstances to win his first race last year, and he was confident that a repeat performance was in the cards when he arrived in Budapest.
As soon as he touched down in Budapest, “a million emotions came gushing back,” he recalled.
“A year ago, we accomplished something incredible, and a goal of mine was realised. But I desire more. We desire more. The final effort before summer break Leclerc seized the early lead on a hot and dry afternoon at the Hungaroring, where heavy rain has been predicted and may bring a turbulent qualifying session on Saturday.
Sainz quickly made it a Ferrari one-two at the top before Norris, driving on light tyres, overtook despite racing wide and across the grass and dust at the penultimate curve, supporting the idea that McLaren might enjoy the circuit.
Leclerc reclaimed the lead, but Verstappen and Red Bull appeared to be finding it difficult to keep up with Ferrari’s performance, and with 23 minutes left, the champion was down in fourth with teammate Perez in ninth.
Verstappen commented, “As expected, it was a little hard today.
There is still work to be done because we were attempting to strike the correct balance between high and low speed. The 24-year-old Dutchman leads Leclerc by 63 points in the championship race and has won eight of the 12 races so far this season, but he is still afraid of his primary challenger.
This weekend, he said, “the Ferraris will be ahead of us, and it will be difficult to beat them.”
“We’ll put in a lot of effort overnight to narrow that deficit as much as we can.
“The weather appears to have an effect. We might have trouble competing in the dry, but it can be a different story in the wet; who knows? We’ll find out tomorrow. With seven minutes left, Hamilton caught a significant amount of oversteer at Turn Four and moved into the run-off area while Mercedes was having trouble.
He announced over the team radio, “The car is unstable.
Hamilton was not the only driver to suffer for performance as air temperatures climbed to 35 degrees on a dull day with few incidents.
With Vettel and Lance Stroll assuming middle order places, Aston Martin seemed to be taking its time to appreciate the possibilities of the new “armchair” rear wing.
