Lando Norris led a McLaren one-two once again in the second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix, but extended his advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri to just under three tenths. The Bristolian set a 15.624 on the soft just after the halfway point in the session to secure the fastest time, as the team continued their dominant start in Budapest.
However, neither of the McLaren drivers had a perfect run in the early evening session as Norris had to abort his first flying lap after a mistake at Turn Two, while Piastri had heavy traffic on his fastest. Piastri’s next lap was better, while Norris made a mistake and ran wide at the final corner when he got his outside front wheel on the grass turning in.
Going into the final race before the second summer break, Piastri has a sixteen-point lead over Norris, in what appears to be a two-horse race for the drivers’ title, but the Brit has the early edge at one of his favourite circuits on the calendar. But both looked to be pushing hard despite it only being FP2, with Norris having to exhibit their swift reactions after momentary losses of control to avoid hitting the barriers during the second session.
There was also a strange moment late in the session, with the chequered flag already waved, when the pair almost clashed at Turn One as Norris emerged from the pits to prepare for a practice start. Norris has never been outqualified by a team-mate in his six previous appearances at the Hungaroring and has undoubtedly established himself as the early favourite for Saturday’s Qualifying.
Norris said: “The car since the first lap, has felt pretty good. All my laps have been decent. The second session was a little bit more messy on low fuel and high fuel, a few more mistakes. It’s all part of practice and finding the limit in different areas. Good understanding. I know what I want from the car. It might be a bit harder trying to get it.”
Charles Leclerc continued Ferrari’s mid-season revival, going third just over a tenth behind Piastri and ahead of an impressive Aston Martin duo, Lance Stroll a tenth off the Monacan as he went just under a tenth faster than his teammate Fernando Alonso. The two Aston’s managing to split the two Ferrari’s, as the Spaniard was also just under a tenth faster than his former teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Alonso missed the first session to give himself more time to recover from a muscle problem in his back but was soon back up to speed on a track that is expected to suit the Aston Martin better than high-speed Spa-Francorchamps last week. Hamilton, meanwhile, was a hundredth faster than another former teammate, George Russell.
Russell was unable to find more performance after Mercedes switched back to the old suspension, which left him a hundredth ahead of Isack Hadjar, while his teammate Kimi Antonelli had to settle for tenth after going three and a half hundredths behind the Frenchman.
Ollie Bearman put his Haas eleventh missing out of the top ten by just under half a tenth, as he went just over tenth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who split the Haas’ as he went a quarter of a tenth ahead of Esteban Ocon.
The biggest surprise was Max Verstappen, who was over a second off the pace in fourteenth, as the four-time champion appeared to struggle with the balance of the Red Bull. He is under investigation for a bizarre incident which saw him discard of a rag that appeared to have been left in his cockpit by his mechanics. The reigning world champion threw the rag onto the track at Turn 3, where it remained until the end of the session.
Verstappen was two hundredths faster than former teammates Laim Lawson and Carlos Sainz, who was six hundredths further behind. Gabriel Bortoleto split the two Williams as he went a quarter of a tenth behind Lawson and three-quarters ahead of Alex Albon. The two Alpine’s completed the field with Pierre Gasly going over a tenth faster than teammate Franco Colapinto.
