F1 Hungarian GP: Hamilton outpaces Verstappen in final practice

With the introduction of the alternative tyre allocation for this round, limiting teams from 13 sets of tyres per weekend to 11, the teams attempted to use FP3 as preparation for each phase of qualifying.

This yielded all-out times across the full range of compounds, rather than simply bolting on softs as hot-lap preparation.

Track temperatures of 45C and above also made it more difficult for the drivers to initially beat their FP2 times, when the track surface had been cooled by earlier rain, although an overnight downpour had stripped the Hungaroring surface of rubber laid down on Friday.

Daniel Ricciardo set the first timed lap of the session, but his sighter was quickly beaten by Kevin Magnussen's 1m20.454s, who in turn was usurped by Sergio Perez's first lap on a set of used mediums.

Verstappen then dispatched his team-mate with a 1m18.478s having pressed a new set of mediums into service, as the Dutchman only used soft tyres in FP2 on Friday.

This withstood a series of runs on soft tyres, as Oscar Piastri's 1m18.949s was not enough to beat either Red Bull despite setting a best middle sector.

Piastri's run was completed on new softs, while the trailing laps from team-mate Lando Norris and Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were already used sets.

Continuing its impressive pace from FP2, Alfa Romeo pair Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu then split the two Red Bulls on fresh softs, Bottas getting within 0.011s of Verstappen's benchmark as the opening third of the session's run-time had been completed.

Norris then found a smidgen more life in his used softs to move past Perez into fourth, as the Mexican complained that he was struggling to cool the tyres on the sweltering tarmac.

As Verstappen had been on top for well over half an hour, Fernando Alonso relieved him of service with a lap on new softs and buzzed the line with a 1m18.350s, just 0.128s clear of the reigning champion's time.

The Spaniard was granted over five minutes on top of the pile, until Norris then employed a fresh set of mediums and beat Alonso's time by 0.268s, wagging the tail of his McLaren MCL60 as he drew across the line.

As the session entered its final quarter, the Mercedes duo embarked upon runs on the soft tyre. George Russell's attempt was punctuated by a few loose moments and went into third place, but Hamilton cruised to a suite of purple sectors and surged to the top with a 1m17.811s.

Verstappen then attempted to beat his 2021 title rival with new soft tyres, but was a quarter of a second away from Hamilton's benchmark - and complained of no grip while still slotting into second. Perez then vaulted into third, 0.013s behind his team-mate.

The Ferrari duo, who had spent most of the session sitting towards the bottom of the timesheets after focusing on long medium runs, then attempted to move to the top - but lost time beyond their strong first sectors and moved into sixth and seventh.

Nico Hulkenberg then beat both works Ferraris and moved up to fourth, while Magnussen's best first sector was not enough to carry him into the top half of the timesheets.

Perez tried a late effort to try and break between Hamilton and Verstappen at the top but was 0.006s shy of his team-mate's time to remain third ahead of Hulkenberg.

Norris's earlier effort was good enough for fifth, ahead of Russell, Leclerc and Sainz in the top eight. Alonso's previous headliner carried him into ninth overall, beating Bottas' time as Lance Stroll split the Alfa Romeos to sit 11th, ahead of Zhou.

The top 16 sat all within a second, with Logan Sargeant just 0.003s outside of that margin in 17th place.

Ricciardo outpaced team-mate Yuki Tsunoda by three tenths, with the two split at the bottom of the timesheets by Ocon.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	L. Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	20	1'17.811		202.691
2	M. Verstappen Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	23	+0.250	0.250	202.041
3	S. Perez Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	25	+0.256	0.006	202.026
4	N. Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	21	+0.266	0.010	202.000
5	L. Norris Lando Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	19	+0.271	0.005	201.987
6	G. Russell George Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	22	+0.308	0.037	201.891
7	C. Leclerc Charles Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	28	+0.379	0.071	201.708
8	C. Sainz Carlos Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	29	+0.423	0.044	201.595
9	F. Alonso Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	20	+0.539	0.116	201.296
10	V. Bottas Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo	77		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	24	+0.678	0.139	200.940
11	L. Stroll Lance Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	20	+0.725	0.047	200.820
12	Z. Guanyu Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo	24		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	23	+0.733	0.008	200.799
13	A. Albon Alex Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	17	+0.781	0.048	200.676
14	O. Piastri Oscar Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	19	+0.787	0.006	200.661
15	K. Magnussen Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	26	+0.838	0.051	200.531
16	P. Gasly Pierre Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	22	+0.965	0.127	200.208
17	L. Sargeant Logan Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	16	+1.003	0.038	200.111
18	D. Ricciardo Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri	3		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	28	+1.017	0.014	200.076
19	E. Ocon Esteban Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	22	+1.168	0.151	199.693
20	Y. Tsunoda Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	29	+1.345	0.177	199.247
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