F1 Hungarian GP: Sainz quickest in FP1 over Verstappen, Leclerc

Carlos Sainz opened the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend with the fastest time in FP1, over a quarter of a second clear of Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen.

Sainz posted a 1m18.713s amid a flurry of soft-tyre runs at the start of the session’s second half, beating an earlier benchmark set by team-mate Charles Leclerc.

High track temperatures had pushed the mercury above 58C, creating difficult conditions for the drivers to coax their cars around the Hungaroring.

George Russell opened with a 1m20.980s benchmark on medium tyres – which was overturned by Verstappen, who went almost three tenths quicker on the softs.

Although the Mercedes driver found more time to set a 1m20.083s, Verstappen continued to circulate on the C5 tyre and posted the first sub-80-second time: a 1m19.831s.

Oscar Piastri got close to this on the mediums, falling just 0.007s shy of the Red Bull driver, although Alex Albon then hurled his Williams to the top of the order before the session ticked over into its second half. The Anglo-Thai driver set a 1m19.794s on softs, but this was eclipsed by Russell’s first soft-tyre lap: a 1m19.137s. 

Leclerc got his Ferrari onto the top spot five minutes later, but this was later eclipsed by team-mate Carlos Sainz, who logged a 1m18.713s – both drivers running soft tyres and equipped with a new floor in response to the instability issues caused by the Barcelona package.

Verstappen attempted to return to the top, but his 1m18.989s fell just short of Sainz’s earlier effort; it was nonetheless good enough for second, two hundredths of a second clear of Leclerc.

Leclerc and Russell were third and fourth, while Zhou Guanyu survived an earlier issue with his Sauber shedding cooling louvres from its new sidepod package to sit fifth in the timing order.

Lando Norris and Piastri were sixth and seventh fastest, while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was close behind with the eighth-best time.

Although running Aston Martin’s older package for FP1, as the Silverstone squad introduced new upgrades for Hungary, Lance Stroll claimed the ninth-fastest time. British GP winner Lewis Hamilton was 10th in the order, 0.15s clear of Sergio Perez.

F1 Hungarian GP – FP1 results

Cla 
 Nº 
 Driver 
 Car / Engine 
 Time 
 Delay 
 Laps 

1 
55
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
1’18.713
 
27

2 
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull/Honda RBPT
1’18.989
0.276
20

3 
16
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1’19.011
0.298
29

4 
63
George Russell
Mercedes
1’19.137
0.424
28

5 
24
Zhou Guanyu
Sauber/Ferrari
1’19.180
0.467
24

6 
4
Lando Norris
McLaren/Mercedes
1’19.211
0.498
26

7 
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren/Mercedes
1’19.249
0.536
26

8 
22
Yuki Tsunoda
RB/Honda RBPT
1’19.260
0.547
26

9 
18
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin/Mercedes
1’19.265
0.552
25

10 
44
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1’19.287
0.574
29

11 
11
Sergio Pérez
Red Bull/Honda RBPT
1’19.440
0.727
22

12 
3
Daniel Ricciardo
RB/Honda RBPT
1’19.578
0.865
27

13 
14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin/Mercedes
1’19.686
0.973
24

14 
23
Alexander Albon
Williams/Mercedes
1’19.794
1.081
22

15 
77
Valtteri Bottas
Sauber/Ferrari
1’19.804
1.091
28

16 
2
Logan Sargeant
Williams/Mercedes
1’19.885
1.172
26

17 
10
Pierre Gasly
Alpine/Renault
1’19.976
1.263
26

18 
31
Esteban Ocon
Alpine/Renault
1’20.023
1.310
26

19 
20
Kevin Magnussen
Haas/Ferrari
1’20.295
1.582
27

20 
50
Oliver Bearman
Haas/Ferrari
1’20.371
1.658
27

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