F1 | FP3 | Hungarian GP | Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 ahead of Leclerc - Motorsport

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Yesterday saw McLaren’s Lando Norris set the pace during Friday’s second practice session at the Hungaroring, leading the way from Oscar Piastri in P2. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the top 3. Now, the F1 grid takes to FP3 at the Hungarian GP, marking the final session before Qualifying this afternoon.

McLaren were the only team yesterday who set times in the 1 minute 16s, and will be the team to watch today. They currently lead the Constructors’ Championship, 268 points ahead of Ferrari.

Green lights for FP3

The track was warmer then the conditions seen in yesterday’s FP1 and FP2 sessions for the F1 Hungarian GP, with the temperature at 47 degrees Celsius.

McLaren and Aston Martin were the first to take to the track in FP3, running medium and hard tyres respectively. Both teams completed initial heat cycles before bringing their drivers back into the pits. Aston Martin then sent its cars out once more, again just for heat cycling on hards.

Franco Colapinto was the first to attempt a qualifying simulation, bolting on softs and posting a 1:18.006 on his first push lap. He appeared to pick up cement dust or sand at Turn 3, a remnant from a previous Porsche support session where oil had leaked onto the track.

Pierre Gasly and Nico Hülkenberg soon followed on softs, while Lance Stroll rejoined on a second set of mediums. Stroll briefly topped the timing sheets with a 1:17.540, ahead of Gasly and Hülkenberg, who slotted in behind Colapinto.

Yuki Tsunoda stormed to the top with a 1:17.022, two-tenths clear of Colapinto, who had just improved on his earlier time.

Most driver’s hit the track

All drivers, except for those from Williams and Haas, took to the track with 40 minutes to go. The grid was split between soft and medium tyres.

Max Verstappen launched into a flying lap and crossed the line in P1 with a 1:16.547, half a second clear of Tsunoda. Despite a slow first sector, Verstappen capitalised on the grip in the latter sectors to post the benchmark time in the F1 Hungarian GP FP3 session.

Ferrari soon joined the fray, with both drivers slotting into P2 and P4. Meanwhile, Mercedes’ George Russell briefly topped the timesheets before Oscar Piastri surged ahead with a 1:16.240.

Lando Norris, however, aborted his lap after a mistake in the middle sector. His second attempt only managed him P5, but he came across traffic and dipped a tyre in the dirt as well on his excursion.

Timings continue to fall

Verstappen surged to the top of the timesheets, edging out Championship leader Piastri by just 0.038s. Leclerc then bettered Verstappen’s benchmark by a tenth despite a mistake in turn 12, but Piastri responded immediately, becoming the first to dip into the 1:15s. Hamilton soon joined the fight, slotting himself between Piastri and Leclerc, just a tenth shy of the fastest time.

Both Sauber’s were sitting in the top 10, with Bortoleto in P6 and Hulkenberg in P10. The track continued to evolve, so times continued to fall. Mercedes were perched in P7 and P8, with Russell ahead of Antonelli in the Hungarian GP FP3 session.

Norris set off on his flying lap, crossing the line in P3. Albon ran wide in Turn 4 and asked his team to check his floor.

Traffic, Traffic, Traffic

Traffic will be a struggle later in Qualifying, as the Hungaroring is a fairly short circuit. It also was having a role in FP3, with the drivers fighting for track space.

The track continued to heat up, with the temperature now at 49.5 degrees Celcius. Piastri set off on a scorcher of a lap, showing the full potential of the McLaren, setting purple sectors all round with a time of 1:14.916. Norris followed, but only set purple in sector three, with a time 0.032s down on Piastri.

Russell was set for good gains, but a giant snap of oversteer in the last sector saw him lose a couple of tenths.

Hadjar ran wide on the last corner, avoiding placing his Racing Bulls machine into the wall, but having a large spin on track which brought out brief double yellow flags.

10 minutes left of FP3

Most of the drivers were struggling with the rear tyres by the end of the lap, with tyre degradation and overheating playing a big part in the laps.

Lawson improved on his previous time, moving from P19 to P13. With Hadjar’s earlier spin, he was sitting down in P20, 2 seconds off pace, and running mediums as he flat spotted his set of softs in his earlier encounter.

With 3 minutes on the board, no drivers were improving on their previous times. The drivers, however, had excruciatingly close times from P4 to P10, with only three and a half tenths separating them.

Piastri finished the session ahead of McLaren teammate Norris for the first time this weekend, with Ferrari’s Leclerc rounding out the top 3 in FP3 for the F1 Hungarian GP.