Piastri is "excited for the rest of the weekend", but admits his car behaved a bit unexpectedly on Friday

Despite grabbing second place in both practice sessions on Friday, McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri admitted that his MCL39 "behaved a bit unexpectedly," but he managed to make the car a bit better.

Hot on the heels of their dominant double victory at Spa-Francorchamps, McLaren appear to be in a league of their own again at the twisting layout of the Hungaroring.

The opening day indicated that Lando Norris currently has the upper hand over his team-mate Oscar Piastri, albeit the championship leader sometimes manages to turn things around come qualifying day.

The British driver set the pace in both practice sessions, whilst the Australian ended up second behind his team-mate.

“It’s been a good Friday. Our competitiveness has looked strong. We’ve got some things to try and tidy up overnight, but all in all, it’s been a solid first day. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”

“I think generally, yes. We’ve had to change a few things and try and make the car a bit better, but the performance has been very good.

“All in all, pretty happy. Some things to tidy up, it wasn’t the smoothest of FP2s, but I think the underlying pace is good. I’m excited for the rest of the weekend.”

As for what prevented it from being a perfect start to his weekend, the Australian continued: “I think just the grip level was very high today. The car’s been quick all day, just in FP1 it behaved a bit unexpectedly, so we changed a few things and it made it a lot better for FP2.

"Now we’re fine-tuning the normal things. I think just the grip level was a lot higher than we expected, especially compared to last year. It’s just those things.”