Charles Leclerc was the fastest man in Budapest on Friday afternoon, with the Monaco driver topping the schedule in the second practice session at the Hungaroring, leading the impressive Lando Norris at McLaren.
Leclerc got off to a good start to the session, setting the early middle tire sprint with a steep time of 1 million 18.911 seconds, to lead teammate Carlos Sainz by 0.481 seconds.
With 20 minutes of running in FP2 gone, the drivers began taking to the track with soft tires and low fuel to simulate the usual Friday afternoon qualifying.
As it happened: Follow all the procedures from the second practice of the Hungarian Grand Prix
It was Lando Norris who delivered the early challenge, setting the fastest first sector on his way to set a time of 1 million 18.662 seconds. However, the McLaren rider’s time was quickly lost by Leclerc, who ran twenty times faster with a time of 1 million 18.445 seconds.
|
1 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari |
1: 18.445 |
|
2 Lando Norris Nor McLaren |
+ 0.217 seconds |
|
3 Carlos Signs Supreme Authority for Financial Control and Accountability Ferrari |
+ 0.231 seconds |
|
4 the above Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing |
+ 0.283 seconds |
|
5 Daniel Ricardo rick McLaren |
+ 0.427 seconds |
Sainz – who gave up his first attempt on a soft-tyre run – was part of the back as he posted the third-fastest time on the course, ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen in fourth – with the top four covered by just 0.283sec.
It was a good day for McLaren, with 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo finishing fifth, just over twenty more than his teammate, while Alpine team Fernando Alonso – another former Hungary winner – finished sixth.
FP1: Sainz leads Verstappen at opening Hungarian Grand Prix practice
Fresh from the announcement that it will be Retiring at the end of the seasonSebastian Vettel in the updated Aston Martin was seventh fastest, ahead of George Russell in eighth. Sergio Perez, in the second Red Bull, was adrift in ninth as Valtteri Bottas’s Alfa Romeo rounded out the top ten in its first session of the day, having been replaced by Robert Kubica in FP1.
Eight-time Budapest winner Lewis Hamilton trailed 11th – despite facing traffic on a faster lap – surrounded by Alfa Romeo drivers, with Zhou Guanyu in 12th.
2022 Hungarian GP FP2: Alex Albon closes in and spins into Turn 1
Last year’s Hungarian winner Esteban Ocon finished 13th, half a second behind his Alpine teammate, ahead of Lance Stroll in 14th, with Alpha Torres down from Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda in 15th and 19th, respectively.
Of these, Kevin Magnussen – in updated Haas – was 16th, ahead of teammate Mick Schumacher in 17th, and Nicholas Latifi was ahead of Williams in 18th.
Alex Albon was down 20 after his qualifying career was cut short by a turn in Turn 1, as well as struggling with over-steer.
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