Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri dominated P3 in Formula 1 at the Budapest circuit, in the Hungarian GP. The two McLaren cars were far superior to the rest and will arrive in the best way for qualifying (from 11 a.m., Argentine time). The British rider set the best time of the weekend.
Norris set a record of 1:16.098 seconds44 thousandths faster than his teammate, the Australian Piastri, and 281 ahead of the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull)which did not find the rhythm that a McLaren that wants to re-engage in the fight for the World Cup and that starts as a great favorite seems to have this weekend.
The Hungarian GP is a circuit in which McLaren showed its one-lap superiority and in which the Englishman seeks to begin the comeback of the drivers’ World Championship, where he is 84 points behind Verstappen.
For its part, the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) He finished fifth, although he did so more than half a second behind Norris, which shows Ferrari’s room for improvement in pace, as Sainz was well ahead of his teammate. the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who was inconsistent, being eleventh seven tenths behind the second in the drivers’ World Championship.
Likewise, the Mexican Sergio Czech Pérez (Red Bull) finished thirteenthone position ahead of the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who could not complete many laps with the soft tires and who was harmed by a departure from the track by the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) with five minutes remaining before the end of the race. session.
And the weather conditions, with the Hungaroring circuit completely cloudy and with a temperature very different from what the track had this Friday, led to the drivers staying in the paddock during the first part of the session.
Only the Red Bulls tested the hard tires carrying out a race simulation that is difficult to complete, since both the qualification this Saturday afternoon and the race this Sunday are expected to be hotter than this second free practice session.
With the Red Bulls alone on the track, the teams waited for the track to warm up a little more to go out and one of the first was the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine), who however had a little scare when he overbraked in turn one and had to return to the pits with the tires – especially the right front one – quite damaged.
They also starred in that same excursion off the track in turn one the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (Visa Cash App RB) or the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), while the times began to emerge. Norris set the first time under ‘minute and seventeen’ of the weekend, although his compatriot George Russell (Mercedes) dropped 105 thousandths to clock a 1:16.826 with which to continue testing the track.
The Red Bull drivers, both Verstappen and Checo Pérez, remained crouched, while the McLarens of Norris and the Australian Oscar Piastri and the Ferraris of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc and the Madrid native Carlos Sainz did test their pace on one lap ahead of the classification of this Saturday.
Nevertheless, Norris and Piastri returned to the attack and the great alternative to Verstappen for the World Championship sealed the best time of the weekend, an improvement over the other grand prix that was confirmed by Piastri’s time, who with two minutes left in the session finished four hundredths behind Norris.