FP2: Leclerc edges Norris to lead second practice at the Hungaroring

F1 Grand Prix, GP Hungary, Hungaroring

Following the rain-interrupted opening session, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc topped the second practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix. F1Technical's senior writer Balázs Szabó reports on Free Practice 2 from the Hungaroring paddock.

While the opening practice was interrupted by rain and a heavy crash of Sergio Perez, drivers had much better conditions to cope with in the second one-hour session.

Drivers approached the late afternoon’s outing in very different fashion, using different run plans. In the end, five-time F1 race winner Charles Leclerc ended up fastest with a time 1m17.686s, narrowly beating McLaren’s Lando Norris with Pierre Gasly taking third for Alpine.

Behind the leading trio was AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, who racked up an impressive tally of 30 laps on his way to P4. The Japanese was only two tenths of a second slower than Leclerc’s benchmark.

His new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo had a cautious approach to his first Friday in 2023, ending up 14th fastest. However, the Australian completed 29 laps which should give him a good platform to build on for the rest of the weekend.

The rest of the top ten included unusual faces with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu taking 7th and 9th fastest. Nico Hulkenberg put in a strong effort to finish in an impressive P6 in the end.

Following two difficult race weekends, Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin in P8, notching up a total of 31 laps. His team mate Lance Stroll also had a frantic session behind the wheel as he completed 32 laps on his way to P2 in the standings.

Championship runaway leader Max Verstappen took 11th, albeit he completed only a few laps on the soft compound in the opening stages of the session before spending time in his garage and conducting a race simulation in the dying minutes of the one-hour practice.

His team-mate Sergio Perez was back in his RB19 after a heavy shunt in Free Practice 1. The Mexican put his Red Bull in 18 in the end, completing only 13 laps around the 4.3km Hungaroring.

Eight-time Hungaroring winner Lewis Hamilton and his team mate, George Russell were 16th and 20th respectively for Mercedes. However, the two Mercedes drivers focused on heavy-fuel runs with neither of them using the soft compound in the session.