Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put in a late time to depose Stoffel Vandoorne and claim honours on the opening day of the second in-season test at the Hungaroring.
Vandoorne had extended his advantage from the morning session with a flurry of times on the Ultrasoft tyres with half an hour remaining, winding up with a 1:17.834, to put a gap of six-tenths back to Leclerc.
However, Leclerc moved ahead with just five minutes remaining to finish with a 1:17.746, achieved on the Soft tyres.
Vandoorne therefore placed second, 0.088s behind the Ferrari protégé, having topped the morning session, despite bringing out a red flag when he stopped on track as a precaution.
Valtteri Bottas was third fastest as he carried out 2018 tyre development work in association with Pirelli, completing 155 laps, the busiest driver of the day.
Current GP3 points leader George Russell received his first run out in a current-spec Formula 1 car and placed fourth, having comfortably surpassed the 100-lap mark.
Williams’ Lance Stroll was drafted in to replace Felipe Massa, who missed the Hungarian Grand Prix through illness, and racked up substantial mileage in the FW40.
Force India split running between Nikita Mazepin (morning) and Lucas Auer (afternoon), with the pair taking sixth and ninth respectively.
They were split by Renault’s Nicholas Latifi and Toro Rosso’s Sean Gelael, the latter missing a chunk of the morning due to a suspected engine problem.
Haas development driver Santino Ferrucci conducted running in the VF-17 and finished in 10th position.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had a low-key day with limited mileage, having completed only a handful of competitive laps in the morning due to a suspected MGU-H problem.
Gustav Malja made his Formula 1 test bow with Sauber and finished at the foot of the field, 3.6s behind Leclerc.
Hungary In-Season Test – Day 1 Times:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:17.746 | 98 | |
| 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:17.834 | 0.088 | 72 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:18.732 | 0.986 | 155 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:19.231 | 1.485 | 119 |
| 5 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:19.886 | 2.120 | 138 |
| 6 | Nikita Mazepin | Force India | 1:19.910 | 2.164 | 52 |
| 7 | Nicholas Latifi | Renault | 1:20.302 | 2.556 | 54 |
| 8 | Sean Gelael | Toro Rosso | 1:20.341 | 2.595 | 101 |
| 9 | Lucas Auer | Force India | 1:20.563 | 2.817 | 54 |
| 10 | Santino Ferrucci | Haas | 1:21.185 | 3.439 | 102 |
| 11 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:21.228 | 3.482 | 58 |
| 12 | Gustav Malja | Sauber | 1:21.503 | 3.757 | 108 |
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