FERRARI LEADS AGAIN IN HUNGARY AS HAMILTON TOPS FP2
Ferrari continued its strong start to the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, with Lewis Hamilton finishing first in FP2 at the Hungaroring. The seven-time world champion led a Ferrari one-two, with Charles Leclerc only a few thousandths of a second behind him, confirming the SF-26’s strong pace on the Budapest circuit.
Behind the two Ferraris, Lando Norris placed third for McLaren, around half a second away from Hamilton’s benchmark, while Max Verstappen finished fourth with Red Bull. George Russell completed the top five for Mercedes, while teammate Kimi Antonelli struggled more during qualifying simulations, still searching for the right balance with the W17.
Ferrari was competitive from the beginning of the session. During the first runs on medium tyres, Hamilton and Leclerc immediately showed strong pace, with the two SF-26 cars separating themselves from the rest of the field. Verstappen was the closest challenger, but Red Bull remained several tenths behind the Italian team.
The session then moved into qualifying simulations with the soft tyre, but the first attempts were interrupted by a red flag after Franco Colapinto crashed his Alpine at the final corner. The Argentine driver was able to get out of the car without injuries, but the incident stopped the teams’ first qualifying runs.
Once the session restarted, Ferrari continued to set the pace. Leclerc initially went fastest with a lap of 1:18.877, before Hamilton improved further and took the top spot. Norris remained the closest McLaren driver, while Verstappen completed the top four.
The two Ferrari drivers used different approaches during the session, with the team continuing to collect data on its updated SF-26 package. Ferrari introduced a revised version of its rotating rear wing in Hungary, continuing the development work started earlier in the season.
Mercedes had a more difficult qualifying simulation, especially with Antonelli. The Italian driver reported problems with the rear of the car and struggled to match the pace of his rivals over a single lap. However, his long-run performance improved later in the session, showing stronger race pace compared to his qualifying simulation.
McLaren also had a mixed day. Lando Norris remained competitive, but Oscar Piastri was unable to match his teammate’s performance. The team continued testing its updated package, with more information expected after analysing the data collected during Friday’s sessions.
The final part of FP2 focused on race simulations, with teams choosing different tyre strategies. Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris and Antonelli completed their long runs on the soft compound, while Hamilton, Russell, Hadjar and Piastri used the medium tyres.
The true race pace remains difficult to judge, as traffic affected several drivers’ laps. Both Ferrari drivers faced interruptions during their long runs, meaning the team still needs to analyse the data before understanding its advantage over rivals.
After the first two practice sessions, Ferrari appears to be the team to beat at the Hungaroring, a circuit where aerodynamic efficiency and cornering performance are more important than top speed. However, the gap is expected to close as Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren continue improving before qualifying.
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