McLaren dominates final Hungarian GP practice
McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri controlled final practice on a cooler Saturday at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Overcast conditions were considerably kinder on the tires after a sweltering Friday. The track was 100 degrees F, some 36 degrees cooler than first practice yesterday despite a similar ambient of 81 degrees F.
The shift in conditions appeared to favor McLaren, which had topped second practice on Friday but took a step ahead of Red Bull Racing in the final hour of track action before qualifying. Norris set the pace at 1m16.098s, with teammate Piastri following just 0.044s further back in second.
Max Verstappen’s RB20 looked notably less hooked up on his flying lap, with the Dutchman clocking in 0.281s off the pace. A second run on old soft tires in the final minute saw the Dutchman lock up and run off the road at the first corner.
Red Bull Racing spent relatively less time on the soft tires, however, with both Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez devoting significant time to running the hard tire.
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The pair had racked up 14 laps on the white-marked rubber before most drivers had even set a lap. Verstappen set 20 hard-tire laps in total, with Perez completing just two fewer — more than most drivers set in total for the session.
George Russell slotted into fourth for Mercedes, the cooler weather doing little to bring him closer to the front, having lapped 0.466s off the pace. Carlos Sainz’s best lap suggested Ferrari was even further back, with a 0.541s deficit.
Daniel Ricciardo led an unusually highly placed gaggle of midfield cars inside the top 10, with the RB driver lapping 0.554s off the pace in sixth. Alex Albon’s Williams followed 0.009s further back ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas, who was 0.044s behind Ricciardo, and Yuki Tsunoda in the second RB, who was 0.092s slower than his teammate.
Lewis Hamilton disappointedly completed the top 10 with 0.688s to make up to the front. The Briton’s Mercedes was loose on his fastest lap, and on a second run on used softs he lost his rear axle entirely, spinning over the grass at Turn 9.
Charles Leclerc recovered from his FP2 crash to finish the final practice session 11th ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull Racing car, the Mexican 0.575s slower than teammate Verstappen.
Aston Martin saved its soft-tire runs until the very end of the session but ended up more than 0.9s off the pace in 14th and 15th, Fernando Alonso ahead of Lance Stroll.
Logan Sargeant was 16th ahead of Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon to complete the order.
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