HUNGARIAN GP – Charles Leclerc fastest by two tenths ahead of Lando Norris in second practice
Charles Leclerc was fastest in the second practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver set a 16.445 putting himself ahead of Lando Norris who spilt the two Ferraris after going almost a hundredth and a half ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc immediately set the pace as most cars began on medium tyres, turning the tables on Sanz after the Spaniard had kept up his recent strong form in FP1. When a switch was made to soft tyres midway through the session, Leclerc maintained his advantage, but the surprise came in the fact it was the McLaren of Norris behind him.
The top four traded times throughout the session, but it was Leclerc who ended the afternoon fastest as he looks to bounce back from the crash at Paul Ricard last weekend. Norris meanwhile edged out his former teammate as McLaren look to be in the mix this weekend.
The two Ferrari’s looked good on their qualifying simulations going ahead of their main rival Max Verstappen in fourth, but it was a difficult session for the Red Bull driver who struggled with car oscillations leaving him nearly three tenths off the pace. But it is likely that Red Bull will find more pace going into qualifying tomorrow, Verstappen going a tenth and a half ahead of the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo.
Verstappen, who extended his World Championship lead to 63 points by winning in France, was on this occasion unable to keep pace with Leclerc, with the pair having been evenly matched for pace for much of the season. That advantage mainly down to the reliability issues and driver errors by Leclerc.
Fernando Alonso put his Alpine fifth another strong showing by the team who have appeared to excel at this type of circuit all season. The Spaniard a tenth and three quarters behind Ricciardo who was two tenths ahead of Sebastian Vettel, the Aston Martin driver benefiting from a rear wing which has caused some controversy.
Mercedes looked to be competitive in the first session however slipped back in FP2, with George Russell eight nine tenths off the pace. The car looks to be unstable through the corners and could again be a case of bottoming out rather than porpoising, Lewis Hamilton meanwhile could only manage eleventh.
Russell complained of recurring brake locking going into the first corner. He asked over the radio, “What the hell is going on at Turn One? I just can’t get around it without locking brakes.” Hamilton meanwhile complained about his car being “unstable.”
Sergio Perez also looked to struggle the Red Bull driver going ninth fastest seven-tenths behind Russell and ahead of Valtteri Bottas by a hundredth of a second. The Finn rounding out the top after going a tenth and a half faster than his former teammate Hamilton, who was in between the two Alfa Romeo’s.
Guanyu Zhou put his Alfa Romeo six hundredths behind the seven-time champion, he was also six hundredths ahead of Esteban Ocon. Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin fourteenth ahead of Pierre Gasly, and the two Haas’s. Kevin Magnussen going over a tenth ahead of teammate Mick Schumacher.
While Haas was off the midfield pace, Friday may have been down to the team trying to evaluate their upgrade package. The teams first major upgrades of the season have already been dubbed the ‘white Ferrari,’ that could again pose questions about the relationship between the two.
Nicolas Latifi put his Williams eighteenth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and his teammate Alex Albon.