Lando Norris was fastest in third practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix; the McLaren driver set a 17.939, putting himself just over a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton. Norris set his fastest time towards the end of the session to top the times as Hamilton edged out the championship leader Kimi Antonelli by just over a hundredth.
Ferrari had appeared the big favourites for Saturday’s qualifying fight after dominating the opening day’s practice but, while they remained right in the mix at the front, they were usurped in the final hour of practice running by the reigning world champions. Norris, however, found more time on his second attempt to put himself fastest.
The top three were comfortably ahead of the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, the Mercedes driver managing to split the two Ferraris after he went over two tenths faster than the Monacan. Leclerc meanwhile was nearly a tenth and a half faster than the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, after the Ferrari aborted his final attempt at Piquet (Turn One).
Piastri also saw his final run wrecked after he cut the Driving Centre Chicane (Six-Seven). George Russell put his Mercedes fifth, but the Englishman was just over a tenth off Piastri, the top six being covered by six tenths.
With the top five covered by half a second at the tricky Hungaroring, it could set things up for an interesting qualifying with Mercedes appearing unlikely to be able to maximise their advantage at this circuit.
Red Bull appeared unable to join the rest of the top four, Max Verstappen over a tenth off Russell and ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar by nearly four tenths as he was the first to lap a second off the pace. But Red Bull appeared unable to find improvements overnight to the handling problems that both drivers complained about on Friday.
Liam Lawson was ninth, going three-quarters of a tenth faster than the two Audis, Gabriel Bortoleto securing his place inside the top ten after going a tenth and three-quarters faster than his teammate Nico Hulkenberg. Audi appears to be strong in the midfield fight this weekend.
Lawson’s teammate Arvid Lindblad had a difficult session; the English-Swedish driver lost most of final practice because of a power unit change. He was a tenth and three-quarters behind Hulkenberg but made it out for one run at the session. Franco Colapinto was a quarter of a second ahead of the two Haas, with Esteban Ocon nearly two hundredths ahead of teammate Ollie Bearman.
There was encouragement for Aston Martin following their big upgrade and setback on Friday, Fernando Alonso was eight hundredths behind the Haas’ as he went half a second faster than teammate Lance Stroll. Stroll was out early after a suspension issue early in FP1 saw him lose most of Friday’s running.
The Cadillacs and Williams duos rounded out the field Valtteri Bottas half a second off Stroll as the Finn went a tenth faster than Carlos Sainz. Sainz was ahead of his teammate Alex Albon by exactly the same margin while Sergio Perez failed to set a time, following a brake failure on his out lap.
