Russell leads wet first Hungarian GP practice as Perez crashes out

George Russell topped a wet first practice hour at the Hungarian Grand Prix after Sergio Perez spun into the barriers just three minutes into the session.

Perez was two laps into his run plan when he dipped his left wheels onto the grass getting on the brakes at Turn 5, sending him sliding out of control towards the outside barrier on exit. His upgraded Red Bull Racing car crunched its left-front corner into the wall, forcing a red flag to retrieve it from the circuit.

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“I cannot believe this,” the distraught Mexican said over team radio, acknowledging his rookie error.

A red-flag suspension of around eight minutes was long enough for the dark clouds surrounding the Hungaroring to make good on their threat of rain, with a light shower turning suddenly into a heavy downpour that prevented even intermediate-tire running in the waterlogged conditions.

Drivers began sampling the slippery circuit at the half-hour mark, but it wasn’t until the final 15 minutes that the majority of the field took up a set of intermediates and set some meaningful laps.

The treacherous conditions almost immediately caught out Carlos Sainz, who spun his Ferrari backwards getting on the power out of Turn 3. The car gently brushed the barriers with its left-side tires, damaging his front wing, but he then beached his car on the curb, causing a second red flag. It took a platoon of marshals to push the slick car off the gutter to get the session restarted after less than five minutes of interruption.

The times improved as the session went on and the track gradually dried. Russell was among the last over the line, capitalizing on the best conditions to top the time sheet with a 1m38.895s.

Oscar Piastri was next best for McLaren a meaningless 0.359s adrift, with Lance Stroll completing the top three.

Lando Norris headed Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant and Nico Hulkenberg to round out the top 10.

Kevin Magnussen was 11th ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who ended the session with a damaged front wing, and Alex Albon as the last of the drivers to complete a timed lap.

None of the cars of Daniel Ricciardo, Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton set a lap time in the conditions, while Perez was unable to rejoin the session owing to his crash.