Yesterday’s action in Formula 1 revealed a Ferrari team that positioned itself as the second-fastest force at the Hungaroring, trailing only behind the consistently dominant McLaren outfit. The British team, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the helm, appears set to battle for both pole position and race victory. However, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, the two drivers of the Scuderia Ferrari SF-25, are expected to confirm the positive signs seen during Friday’s sessions in Budapest. The Maranello-based squad is working to take a step forward, aiming to close the gap to the two drivers from Woking.
Positive signals and tests with Engine Mode 1
Ferrari began Saturday morning’s Free Practice 3 session by fitting new sets of Soft compound Pirelli tyres on both cars. The two Ferrari drivers ran different rear wing configurations: Lewis Hamilton opted for a higher downforce rear wing, while Charles Leclerc drove with a slightly lower downforce setup. The objective was to assess which configuration offered the best compromise, especially considering the potential for rain during qualifying. Hamilton was the first to leave the garage, beginning his push lap simulation.
The initial preparation lap served to bring the tyres up to optimal temperature, allowing for maximum grip when switching to a hot lap on the red-walled Soft tyres. The gearbox was set to the GX2 mode, which is designed to allow for faster gear shifts. Compared to Friday, track temperature had risen by ten degrees Celsius—a significant parameter that can affect both the warm-up phase and tyre behaviour during qualifying simulations.
Lewis Hamilton completed his first flying lap with notable precision, particularly in the second sector, where the SF-25 seemed more responsive and agile. The third sector also delivered promising signals, but it remained evident that neither driver had pushed their car to the absolute limit just yet. After a cooldown lap, both drivers switched to Engine Mode 1—used to evaluate internal combustion engine performance under more aggressive conditions.
Charles Leclerc still had some margin left entering Turn 6, whereas Hamilton had to correct his trajectory at Turn 14. Neither driver requested changes to the front wing setup, indicating that the balance of the car was, at the very least, manageable. During the second run, tyre warm-up procedures were slightly altered, but Hamilton encountered traffic and was unable to complete a proper lap. Leclerc, on the other hand, reached the finish line, though without completing a clean lap.
Although the lap time recorded by the Monegasque driver was not particularly slow, Charles Leclerc described his attempt over team radio as “very bad.” In terms of overall behaviour, the car’s traits seemed unchanged compared to previous sessions. Data analysis once again highlighted braking difficulties at Turn 6, where Ferrari was losing a substantial amount of time. Lewis Hamilton completed one more lap and managed to move up to second place, just one tenth of a second behind Oscar Piastri, who was leading the session at that point.
A step forward, but the gap to McLaren remains unchanged
Following a brief stop in the garage, Charles Leclerc returned to the track on a set of used Soft tyres. He completed just one flying lap to evaluate a minor adjustment to the setup before heading back to the pits. His feeling with the SF-25 remained mostly unchanged, although the lap appeared cleaner. Ferrari’s programme then continued with a qualifying simulation in preparation for Saturday afternoon.
With 17 minutes remaining in the session, Lewis Hamilton also went back out, this time with a fresh set of Soft tyres. After completing a warm-up lap and selecting the “race” engine mapping, he began his push lap. The lap went smoothly until the final sector, where tyre grip seemed to drop off. Hamilton experienced understeer on corner entry and oversteer on exit, ultimately finishing seven tenths of a second off the benchmark pace.
After returning to the pits, it was Charles Leclerc’s turn again. Despite a braking error into Turn 1, he still posted a lap time close to that of the McLaren drivers. However, he lost two tenths in the second sector and another one and a half tenths in the third. There was continued instability under acceleration at Turn 13, and braking zones like Turn 2 and Turn 6 remained problematic. The time gap widened further due to Ferrari’s struggle to bring the tyres into the optimal temperature window—an area where the McLaren MCL39 excels.
At the end of the session, Charles Leclerc recorded a deficit of 399 thousandths of a second to Oscar Piastri—exactly the same gap, down to the thousandth, as recorded the previous day. Both Ferrari and McLaren appear to have taken a step forward overnight, but the performance gap between them remains unchanged. This was also evident in the intra-team comparison at Ferrari: Lewis Hamilton, who finished fourth, was four tenths behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc, mirroring the time difference observed on Friday.
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