FP1: Norris heads McLaren one-two, Ferrari displays strong pace in opening practice
Hot on the heels of their dominant one-two finish at last Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren continued their fine form, with Lando Norris having pipped his team-mate Oscar Piastri in the opening practice session. F1Technical’s senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the first one-hour session from the Hungaroring.
Having dominated the opening stages of the first one-hour session at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris went on to set a 1m16.052s to head his team-mate Oscar Piastri. The Australian looked to struggle for pace initially, but his final qualifying simulation lap saw him close the gap to just 0.019s.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc displayed an encouraging performance to end up in this place, just over two tenths behind Norris. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest, with the Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar having split the two Ferraris.
On the back of a disappointing weekend at Spa, Haas’ Ollie Bearman took sixth. The Mercedes pair of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell took seventh and eighth with their “downgraded” Mercedes after the Brackley-based team elected to revert to a previous suspension.
Reigning champion Max Verstappen ended up ninth in the Red Bull, whilst Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top 10.
Having finished in a brilliant sixth place at Spa last weekend, Alex Albon wound up in 11th for Williams, followed by Haas’ Esteban Ocon (12th), Pierre Gasly (13th), Liam Lawson (14th) and the other Williams of Carlos Sainz (15th).
Felipe Drugovich replaced Fernando Alonso in the opening session as the Spaniard is suffering from back muscles injury. The former F2 champion ended his return outing in P16, ahead of Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda in P17 and the Alpine of Franco Colapinto in P18.
Gabriel Bortoleto – who spent the final moments of the session in the garage as his car remained on the stands – was P19 for Kick Sauber ahead of Paul Aron, who managed just nine laps before stopping with a technical issue.
