Lando Norris he ends the second free practice session of the Hungarian GP in command ahead of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Perez returns, fourth, while Leclerc hits the wall and is only 18th. Below is the complete ranking and analysis of the race pace ahead of Sunday.
FP2 GP Hungary, the ranking
After the victory vanished Silverstone, Lando Norris seeks his revenge in Hungary and ends the Friday test with a first place. Behind him, second as in FP1, Max Verstappen. The Dutchman complained of brake problems at the start of the session, but still managed to finish in the top two. Carlos completes the podium Sainz, after the first position in FP1.
An excellent one completes the top 5 Perez, recovering from FP1 (11th) and George Russell, still ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. It surprises Kevin Magnussen in sixth position, followed by Hamilton. Good too Ricciardo, eighth, then Albon, Alonso, Bottas e Sergeant.
While his teammate is first, Oscar Piastres finishes 13th. An excursion on the gravel damaged the bottom of his McLaren and this affected his programme. They follow Or with, Hulkenberg, gasly e Stroll.
The session ended early, however, for Charles Leclerc (18th), who goes shortly after 15 minutes from the green flag on the wall in a curve 4 and is forced to retire. Great disappointment for the Monegasque driver, who had started the Hungarian weekend with a good third place in the FP1 and now he finds himself with half a session less than the other riders.
Leclerc, however, was not the only "fright" of FP2. Shortly after the accident of the number 16, so did Guanyu's Sauber Zhou (20th behind tsunoda) had a lot of oversteer coming out of the same corner and she turned around, narrowly avoiding Sergio's Red Bull Perez in front of. Unlike the Ferrari, however, no contact with the barriers for the Sauber number 24.
FP2 GP Hungary, analysis of the race pace: is Red Bull back?
With the asphalt temperature 13 degrees lower than in the first free practice sessions, many teams used the final part of the session to test their race pace. Just like at Silverstone, McLaren e Mercedes they confirm themselves as contenders for victory. At Mercedes, however, differentiated work (averages with Russell, soft with Hamilton) made number 44 work harder than his teammate.
Unlike Silverstone, however, he seems to be ahead of them (albeit only slightly). Red Bull. Perez appeared, unexpectedly, faster and more consistently than Verstappen on the race pace, but we will have to see if this trend will continue on Sunday too. Nonetheless, the reigning world champion was also a metronome, setting the fastest lap on the last lap.
La Ferrari (on the track with solo Sainz) seemed competitive at the beginning of the long run, then collapsed with the times. In any case, the Cavallino has taken a step forward compared to Silverstone. Same goes for Haas (With Magnussen) to Racing Bulls (With Ricciardo), serious contenders for the title of “best of the rest” for this race. Still in difficulty, however, Aston Martin: Updates don't work.
The appointment is tomorrow at 12:30 for the FP3, before the moment of truth with the qualifications 16.
