Lando Norris surprised Ferrari by ending FP3 for the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix fastest, leading Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.
With Ferrari holding the advantage on Friday, Mercedes had work to do to bring George Russell and Kimi Antonelli back into contention ahead of qualifying. Balance and grip were cited as the issues, with long-run pace looking competitive.
Further down the order, eyes were on Aston Martin to see if the gains found on Friday translated into Saturday, its new upgrade package seemingly delivering much needed lap time to the underperforming marque.
But coming into FP3, the weather chose to play its hand, the cool, gusty conditions clearing for warmer weather that impacted those with cars sensitive to the slightest change in conditions.
With the track at a scorching 51 °C at the start of the session, and concerns over a lack of grip from dust, drivers would need to be on their toes to keep their tyres (and cars) in the correct operating window.
Green light, red flag, resume
At the green light, it was Franco Colapinto who ventured onto the track first, eager to make up for lost time on Friday after his crash. The Argentine had the Hungaroring all to himself for the first few minutes, kicking up yet more dust as he put in the opening lap of the session.
Stroll and Aston Martin were next, taking advantage of a quiet track, the Canadian in a similar position to Colapinto, needing to urgently make up time after his suspension failure. The rest of the field then slowly made their way out, urgency lacking in the garages. Arvid Lindblad, however, did not, as a problem developed with his power unit, leading to a precautionary change.
After 20 minutes, most of the field had set an initial lap, with Norris holding the advantage. A red flag then came out for the stricken Cadillac of Sergio Perez after he dramatically slowed and suddenly braked, narrowly avoiding the barrier.
The session resumed after a short delay, with much more urgency inside the pit lane, as drivers queued to take to the track, with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine leading the field onto the track.
The opening laps indicated a resurgent McLaren, with Norris showing strong pace after the first runs, with Mercedes narrowing the gap to the frontrunners from just a under a second to around two tenths. Lewis Hamilton then moved to the top of the timesheets by just 0.009s, Leclerc then jumped to the front with just over 20 minutes to left, Antonelli moving into second having had his first lap time deleted.
“Happy hour” during FP3 for the Hungarian GP
In the closing 15 minutes, soft tyre qualifying runs began in earnest, with McLaren once again demonstrating speed, with Antonelli just 0.048s behind. Teammate Russell struggled, ending up sixth, over six tenths of a second away.
Aston Martin raised eyebrows with Fernando Alonso’s first qualifying run, moving into 11th place and seemingly putting the midfield pack now potentially facing a new rival, the team having clawed back multiple seconds.
Norris and Hamilton jostled for the top spot, with Norris able to find more speed on his second lap, pulling 0.117s clear. Antonelli’s next run resulted in the top three being separated by the tantalising gap of less than two tenths of a second. With under five minutes on the clock, the drivers tried again, but improvements were scarce, and the drivers lacked grip, Norris ending the session fastest, from Norris, Antonelli, Leclerc, Piastri, Russell.
The two Red Bulls had a quiet session, Verstappen leading Hadjar, with Lawson and Hulkenberg completing the top ten.
Discussion about this post