Carlos Sainz goes fastest in the opening Hungarian GP practice, ahead of world champion Max Verstappen in second and teammate Charles Leclerc in third, while Ferrari looks set to come back from last week’s horror show in France
Ferrari star Carlos Sainz was fastest in first practice at the Hungarian GP
Max Verstappen will start on Sunday with 63 points ahead in the driver classification
Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc crashed from pole position last week
At the French Grand Prix, Ferrari lost vital points in both championship races
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Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished fastest in the opening practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard led the way of world champion Max Verstappen with Charles Leclerc in third. Lewis Hamilton finished seventh ahead of Mercedes.
The Hungaroring, 26 miles north of Budapest, is the venue for the final Formula 1 race before the traditional summer break.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished fastest in Hungarian Grand Prix opening practice
The Scuderia are eager to come back after a poor performance at the French GP last weekend
Verstappen enters Sunday’s race with an impressive 63-point lead as he tries to secure his second title in as many seasons.
Leclerc should be closer to the Dutchman, but mistakes of man and machine put the Monegask on an arduous task to end Ferrari’s 15-year championship drought.
As with some of the 12 rounds so far, Ferrari seems in a strong position heading into the rest of the weekend after Sainz topped the timesheet.
He finished 0.130 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Verstappen in the scorching 32-degree heat, while Leclerc, who crashed out of the lead of the French Grand Prix five days ago, was nearly three tenths behind.
Charles Leclerc crashed from pole position and lost vital points in championship race
Hamilton achieved his best result of the season after finishing second to Verstappen at Circuit Paul Ricard last Sunday.
But the seven-time world champion was almost a second behind in the first heat of the weekend.
His teammate George Russell fared slightly better in the other Mercedes to finish fifth, but his best time was eight tenths from the front.
McLaren brought a radically revised car to the final lap with Lando Norris qualifying fifth and finishing seventh.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen leads the standings with 63 points on Leclerc
Here Norris was fourth, half a second slower than Sainz, but ahead of both Mercedes cars and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull.
The Mexican driver has struggled with speed since winning the Monaco Grand Prix in May, finishing just sixth, 0.872 seconds over Sainz.
Elsewhere, Sebastian Vettel, who announced on Thursday that he would retire from the sport at the end of the year, finished 11th.
The second practice starts at 5:00 PM local time (4:00 PM UK).