George Russell went quickest in this morning’s rain-affected first practice in Hungary, while Charles Leclerc would pip Lando Norris by 0.015 seconds in FP2.
Only 13 cars would set a lap time in FP1 as a Sergio Perez crash three minutes into the session triggered an early red flag before a downpour saw teams retreat to the pits.
Perez’s weekend was immediately off to a poor start when he dipped his left rear onto the grass on Turn 5, spinning through the runoff and collecting the wall at speed. His newly-upgraded sidepods would sustain damage, as did both front corners.
Teams would briefly return to the track following an eight-minute red flag intervention. However, worsening conditions limited the action and resulted in all 20 cars sitting idle in their garages.
Valtteri Bottas would be the first to set a flying lap with only 20 minutes remaining in the session. Several cars would join him on track, however, a second red flag would again bring a pause to the session. The intervention was caused by a low-speed spin for Carlos Sainz at Turn 3, the Ferrari glancing the barrier but becoming stranded on the raised kerb as it attempted to rejoin.
The session would resume with 11 minutes remaining, leaving several teams to make the decision not to rejoin proceedings. This included Red Bull, with Max Verstappen failing to set a full lap time over the 60-minute practice.
Russell’s 1:38.795 would top Oscar Piastri by 0.359 seconds, while Lance Stroll, Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso would round out the top five, respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo recorded track time in his return to the sport but failed to set a competitive lap, seeing him join the like of Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in the garages.
Free Practice 2 finally produced some clean running, despite the threat of rain looming. The session would run in the dry and see considerable track time for the field.
Leclerc’s 1:17.686, more than 20 seconds faster than Russell’s FP1-topping time, was the quickest of the run, while Norris and Gasly rounded out the top three.
Yuki Tsunoda, Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Bottas, Alonso, Zhou Guanyu and Sainz would complete a mixed top 10.
Less than one second would separate the top 15 drivers, with the championship-leading Verstappen going eleventh fastest. Perez would return to the track following his FP1 crash, completing 14 laps, the least of any competitor, to end in 18th.
Ricciardo would finish the session in 14th, completing 30 laps.
The Hungarian Grand Prix returns for FP3 at 10.30 pm tonight, followed by qualifying at 2.00 am.
Header Image: Scuderia Ferrari
