In the first free practice session for the Hungarian GP, Carlos Sainz confirmed his strong performance on his Ferrari farewell tour. The Spaniard completed a lap of the Hungaroring in 1:18.713 minutes, putting a full three tenths of a second behind his rivals. Ferrari is once again using the revised underbody from Barcelona on the slower track, which has also been modified to prevent bouncing.
The combination seems to be working, with teammate Charles Leclerc coming in third. In the completely revamped Red Bull RB20, Max Verstappen was the only one able to keep up with the Ferrari duo. McLaren and Mercedes are still behind.
The result: Contrary to what the TV broadcast said, the drivers drove their best times on the soft tires. Sainz was 0.276 seconds faster than Verstappen. However, the world champion only drove his personal best time on the C5 tires on his second attempt. Leclerc in the second Ferrari finished a few thousandths behind.
George Russell finished fourth, just over four tenths of a second behind. Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu caused a big surprise in fifth place. The McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri came in sixth and seventh. Both were already half a second behind.
Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll and Lewis Hamilton completed the top 10. Oliver Bearman, who replaced Nico Hülkenberg in the first practice session, finished last behind teammate Kevin Magnussen.
The incidents: There was a lot of traffic in the first practice session on the Hungaroring, which is only 4.381 kilometers long. George Russell in particular had to struggle with his colleagues. At the beginning of the session he even had to leave the track briefly to avoid Yuki Tsunoda. Later he complained about Esteban Ocon’s driving style. The stewards did not take any action, however.
The marshals had to get involved because Alexander Albon’s Williams lost part of its underbody panels. The Thai driver went a little wide in turn 11. The part came off the car as he drove over the kerb violently and remained on the track. A short VSC phase was enough to clear the track. Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber also suffered from a loss of parts for a short time. Parts of the paneling on the sidepod came off without any external influence.
The technology: Almost all teams brought new parts with them to Hungary. Red Bull, Aston Martin and Sauber have the largest packages. All eyes are on the world champion team: after difficulties in the last few races, the big update is finally set to take off. However, only Max Verstappen is driving the complete update with the completely new engine cover, which is now one level lower. The remaining parts – including a new front wing – are also available to Sergio Perez.
The Mexican had to be a guinea pig in the first practice session. At the start of the session, large measuring instruments were attached to Perez’s car to measure the effects of the new front wing. To do this, the team switched back and forth between the new and old version.
At Aston Martin, the changes mainly affect the underbody, which has been revised in all areas. For comparison purposes, Lance Stroll drove with the old specification, Alonso with the new one. At Sauber, there were a lot of updates to the sidepods, but only one package was completed. Valtteri Bottas will be allowed to drive with the new ones in Hungary and Spa. The biggest change concerns the sidepod inlets, now Sauber is also using an overbite.