Lando Norris spearheaded a McLaren one-two finish in the final practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. McLaren delivered an impressive performance, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both clocking times over 0.2 seconds faster than Max Verstappen, who placed third. The true extent of Red Bull’s pace remains uncertain, as they may be conserving speed for the race or focusing on long-run performance. For now, though, McLaren holds the upper hand. Lando Norris surged to the top with a lap time of 1:16.098, despite a minor slide through the final corner. This session, held in cooler and cloudier conditions than Friday, saw track temperatures drop by about 20°C.
Things looked very bright for Ferrari when Carlos Sainz topped first practice yesterday, but unfortunately at the moment they wouldn’t appear to be in the thick of the battle for pole. The Maranello team’s technicians would appear to have more work to do to get back into the fight at the front. Carlos Sainz was the leading Ferrari in fifth, trailing Lando Norris by over half a second. Charles Leclerc finished 11th, a few tenths behind his Maranello teammate.
George Russell secured fourth for Mercedes, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton had a more challenging session, ending up in 10th after spinning at the exit of Turn 9.
Daniel Ricciardo claimed sixth for RB, followed by Williams’ Alex Albon in seventh and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg in eighth, as all three teams showed promising pace during the session.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was ninth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. If that pattern continues into the the qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, next year’s Ferrari line-up could both be at risk of an early exit later today at the Hungaroring circuit.
Here are the final results from FP3 at the Hungaroring:
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