Hamilton Is the Fastest in FP2 in Hungary, and Ferrari Takes the First Day

Ferrari put both its drivers at the front of both free practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc was fastest in the first session, and Lewis Hamilton did the same in the second, leaving Max Verstappen as the only driver who could keep close to the red cars at the start of the weekend at the Hungaroring.

Photo By Ferrari

The first session featured five drivers who are not regular full‑time race drivers. Frederik Vesti took the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, Leonardo Fornaroli took the McLaren of Oscar Piastri, Ryo Hirakawa took the Haas of Oliver Bearman, Paul Aron took the Alpine of Franco Colapinto, and Colton Herta took the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas. With high temperatures and a green track, Leclerc was the first to drop below one minute and twenty seconds on soft tyres, a lap that Verstappen could not match. Hamilton was third, although his feelings were not entirely positive because he found the car too stiff over the kerbs.

The session was interrupted with a red flag when Lance Stroll stopped at Turn 3 with a broken left‑rear suspension on his Aston Martin. That failure prevented him from taking part in FP2 and left Fernando Alonso as the team's only representative in the second practice. Leclerc also had a scare with seven minutes remaining when a failure forced him to stop at the pit entrance. The mechanics resolved the issue in time for him to run in the afternoon without problems.

Photo By Ferrari

In the afternoon, Hamilton felt more comfortable in the SF-26 and set the fastest time of the day, nearly a tenth and a half ahead of Leclerc. Lando Norris put the McLaren in third place, but neither he nor Piastri could get close to the Ferraris. Verstappen repeated his fourth‑place finish from the morning and led a group of Red Bull and Racing Bulls cars that put four of their drivers inside the top seven.

Mercedes could not place either of its cars among the top three in either session. Antonelli, who had not run in FP1 after giving his car to Vesti, could only manage 13th in his first contact with the weekend. Russell was fifth in both practices and his radio complaints were repeated. "The car feels horrible, it's really unbalanced," he said in FP2.

Photo By Mercedes F1

Further back, Audi had Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto inside the top 10 in both sessions, with the Brazilian sixth in FP1 and the German ninth in FP2. Alpine had a difficult day. Pierre Gasly reported that something was wrong with the car and that it felt broken at Turn 12. Franco Colapinto lost control on the final corner of FP2 and crashed into the barriers, forcing his team to put in extra work overnight to have the car ready for qualifying. Williams placed Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz in the midfield, but neither made it into the top 10. Cadillac closed out the field with Sergio Pérez, Bottas and Herta at the back. Action resumes on Saturday with the third free practice session before qualifying.

Hungarian Grand Prix - FP1

Pos.	No.	driver	team	Best time	interval	laps
1	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:19.075	-	19
2	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:19.559	0.484s	25
3	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:19.618	0.059s	23
4	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	1:19.997	0.379s	25
5	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:20.066	0.069s	21
6	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:20.360	0.294s	30
7	#72	Frederik Vesti	Mercedes	1:20.467	0.107s	24
8	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:20.623	0.156s	29
9	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:20.760	0.137s	28
10	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:20.866	0.106s	28
11	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:21.024	0.158s	26
12	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:21.051	0.027s	24
13	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:21.550	0.499s	20
14	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:21.704	0.154s	29
15	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:21.819	0.115s	28
16	#67	Leonardo Fornaroli	McLaren	1:21.890	0.071s	29
17	#50	Ryo Hirakawa	Haas F1 Team	1:22.001	0.111s	25
18	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:22.089	0.088s	22
19	#61	Paul Aron	Alpine	1:22.168	0.079s	28
20	#25	Colton Herta	Cadillac	1:23.118	0.950s	28
21	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:23.471	0.353s	11
22	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:23.734	0.263s	23

Hungarian Grand Prix - FP2

Pos.	No.	driver	team	best time	interval	laps
1	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:18.729	-	26
2	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:18.877	0.148s	30
3	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:19.228	0.351s	30
4	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:19.421	0.193s	27
5	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:19.662	0.241s	30
6	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	1:19.800	0.138s	20
7	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:20.041	0.241s	29
8	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:20.101	0.060s	28
9	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:20.125	0.024s	30
10	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:20.253	0.128s	29
11	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:20.474	0.221s	27
12	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:20.557	0.083s	26
13	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:20.693	0.136s	30
14	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:20.816	0.123s	24
15	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	1:20.950	0.134s	28
16	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:20.973	0.023s	33
17	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:21.426	0.453s	31
18	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:21.442	0.016s	31
19	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:21.719	0.277s	24
20	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:21.792	0.073s	28
21	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:22.531	0.739s	11