Although F1’s summer break is still two weeks away, the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend officially kicks off the second half of the record-breaking 24-race season.
As F1 heads into Round 13, it is experiencing its most competitive stretch of races since at least 2021, if not longer. Each of the top four teams has secured at least one victory so far, and all of them have a strong chance of performing well at the Hungaroring.
In contrast to almost everyone else, Ferrari run the hard compound tyre in the first part of FP1. Carlos Sainz, who initially had plenty of aero rakes attached to his car, was the lead car in seventh after 30 minutes, with Charles Leclerc eighth. That was Ferrari’s first read on this new modified floor, as the upgrade introduced at the Spanish GP made the car unpredictable and worse. Ferrari are calling this a further evolution of the upgrade introduced in Spain, a geometrical evolution. It’s the stability the floor gives the changed geometry is giving.
With 24 minutes to go in the first free practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the track was ramping up all the time and Charles Leclerc followed by team-mate Carlos Sainz went quickest on the soft tyres for Ferrari. The Monegasque’s 1:19.011 time was soon beaten by the Spaniard’s superior 1:18.713. Some early encouragement for Ferrari and their revised floor on a track that should in any case suit the SF-24.
The drivers, cars and tyres were certainly getting an early work out in this opening session, as track temperatures were up to 60 degrees!
Ferrari therefore received an early boost after recent challenges, with Carlos Sainz leading a one-three finish for the Scuderia on the timesheet. However, Max Verstappen’s second-fastest time on older tires might be the real highlight of the session. The second session at 4pm will provide more insights. Charles Leclerc secured third place, George Russell came in fourth, and Zhou Guanyu surprised everyone with the fifth-fastest time, ahead of both McLarens in the upgraded Sauber.
A solid start to the weekend for Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz leading the FP1 of the Hungarian GP. Charles Leclerc is third in the Qualifying simulation. The two Ferrari drivers then collected data in the long run with two different compounds, soft for Sainz and hard for Leclerc. Max Verstappen is second in the overall times with an updated Red Bull, without the engine hood cannons still present on Sergio Perez’s RB20. McLaren is out of the top-5 in the time attack, but solid in race pace with medium tires, a compound also used by Mercedes. Tune in the live text coverage of FP2.
Final Practice One timesheet
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