Norris heads Piastri in first Hungarian GP practice

Lando Norris topped the first practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix, fractionally ahead of teammate and title leader Oscar Piastri.

Norris was the first of the two McLaren drivers to embark on a soft-tire run and set the weekend’s first representative benchmark at 1m16.052s. Piastri followed him out, but the Australian completed two preparation laps before launching into his time attack. Despite setting the fastest first sector, he lost time progressively around the lap to end up almost 0.15s off the pace.

Both drivers returned to pit lane and rejoined on the same tires for their second attempts, but whereas a lock-up for Norris at the first turn sent him back to the pits, Piastri improved by setting a purple time in the middle sector to set his final deficit at 0.019s.

Charles Leclerc completed the top three surprisingly close to the leading McLaren drivers. The Ferrari driver had been more than 0.7s adrift after his first lap, but found more than half a second with his second lap on worn tires to end the session a heartening 0.217s off the pace.

The upgraded SF-25 was quicker than both McLaren cars in the first sector, which comprises the first three turns as well as most of the front straight.

Isack Hadjar was fourth for Racing Bulls, lapping 0.629s off the pace to split Leclerc from teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was 0.053s further back.

Hamilton had a tough session that started with him being confounded with what started as a 1s gap to Norris in the opening phase of the session. He returned to the pits reporting that the car didn’t “feel good” and when he rejoined on softs, he was 0.682s off the pace, most of which came in the twisty middle sector. He then suffered an enormous lock-up into the first turn to avoid flying off the road, destroying a set of softs at the end of a difficult hour of running.

Oliver Bearman was sixth for Haas and 0.826s off the pace ahead of Mercedes duo Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, the pair closely matched at 0.828s and 0.873s off the pace.

Russell started the session reporting a “long and spongy” brake pedal and ended it complaining that he “can’t even turn the car.”

Max Verstappen was an anonymous ninth and 0.888s slower than Norris. Lance Stroll completed the top 10 for Aston Martin at 0.906s off the pace.

Alex Albon was fastest in the first sector on his way to 11th ahead of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, the Frenchman rejoining the session after reporting a loss of power just 10 minutes into the hour. Liam Lawson was 14th in the second Racing Bulls car after having his flying lap interrupted after encountering teammate Hadjar.

Carlos Sainz reported a braking problem – radioing that his car would release the brakes despite him lifting off the pedal – on his way to 15th.

Felipe Drugovich deputized for Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin and ended the session 16th and 1.2s off the pace.

Drugovich received a late call-up after Alonso withdrew from FP1 with muscle pain in his back stemming from last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. The 25-year-old Brazilian has been Aston Martin’s reserve driver since 2022, when he won the F2 championship, and had six prior FP1 appearances before today but has never started a grand prix. Aston Martin says it will make a call on Alonso’s fitness as the weekend continues.

Yuki Tsunoda took the second Red Bull Racing car to 17th in the order amid complaints of a lack of through-corner grip that left him unable to push.

Franco Colapinto was 18th ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, who completed only 17 laps before being withdrawn from the session with 15 minutes remaining.

Alpine-backed Sauber rookie Paul Aron finished the session last without a representative time after receiving a “systems critical” alarm just nine laps and halfway into the hour, for which he was forced to park by the side of the track at Turn 13.

Aron, third in last year’s Formula 2 championship, is an Alpine reserve driver but has been loaned to Sauber to help the Swiss team fulfill its obligation to field juniors in four practice sessions. The Estonian commandeered Nico Hulkenberg’s car and ended the hour 3.7s off the pace.

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