Max Verstappen ended the opening session top of the timesheet in Hungary with a 1:17.555. Valtteri Bottas was just 0.061 adrift, with Lewis Hamilton a further tenth back in third. Carlos Sainz is best of the rest for Ferrari, half a second down on the leading time.
It has almost been totally overshadowed due to the Max Verstappen – Lewis Hamilton crash and controversy, but it is worth remembering that Charles Leclerc came within two laps of ending the Maranello team’s near-two-year victory drought at Silverstone two weeks ago.
The Italian team have played down, again, their chances of a repeat here, stressing it is not quite like Monaco where Charles Leclerc, of course, was on pole, but unfortunately was not able to start the race on the streets of Monte Carlo.
In the first free practice session at the Hungaroring, Scuderia Ferrari drivers completed the Maranello team’s scheduled programme for identifying the tyre behaviour and ideal aerodynamic setup ahead of Saturday and Sunday. Charles and Carlos completed several runs on all three tyre compounds without any major issues, except for a early off-track wobble for Charles Leclerc through the right-handed Turn Five.
In the end, Carlos finished in a strong fourth place, with a best lap time of 1:18.115, while Charles was seventh (1:18.391). Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso finished between the two Ferrari drivers in FP1.
Hungarian Grand Prix – Here are the complete results from free practice one ahead this weekend’s 2021 F1 World Championship race at the Hungaroring.
Results (Classification):
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing – 1:17.555
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.061
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.167
Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari +0.560
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +0.626
Fernando Alonso Alpine +0.830
Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari +0.836
Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.911
Lando Norris McLaren +1.094
Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.200
Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.210
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1.215
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1.434
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1.710
George Russell Williams Racing +2.169
Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing +2.269
Mick Schumacher Haas +2.828
Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo +3.084
Nikita Mazepin Haas +3.437
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo +4.334
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