Oscar Piastri led another McLaren one-two in final practice for the Hungarian GP, setting up a qualifying duel later on Saturday.
At the green light of final practice for the Hungarian GP, the now customary queue in the pit lane was conspicuous in its absence. The field seemingly waited for one another to make the first move.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took the plunge and emerged onto track first, hoping for a clean sweep of Hungarian GP practice. while the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Oliver Bearman stood in the garage watching. After just one lap, the McLarens returned to the pits after scrubbing a set of tyres leaving an empty track.
The two Aston Martins and the Alpine of Franco Colapinto were next to take to the track. Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll toured around before also returning to the pits.
Colapinto, however, continued and set the first flying lap of the day on soft tyres. This prompted the other drivers to climb in their cars and take to the circuit.
Lance Stroll went half a second clear of Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly. Setting the time on the medium compared to the others, the cars were significantly faster than on Friday due to the warmer conditions.
Top runners arrive on track
The Red Bull of Yuki Tsuonda was next to set a lap time, also on mediums. With the track still evolving, he jumped to the top of the times, half a second clear. Team-mate Max Verstappen found almost three tenths of a second to go fastest, knocking Stroll off his latest stint at the top of the timesheets.
Lewis Hamilton slotted into second, while Charles Leclerc moved a tenth clear of Verstappen, outlining Ferrari’s pace.
George Russell enjoyed a brief stint at the top of the standings, before the two McLarens started their duel. Oscar Piastri moved just under a tenth clear, while Lando Norris ended up almost half a second adrift after his first run of final practice for the Hungarian GP.
Verstappen’s latest run demonstrated the work Red Bull had done overnight, jumping to the top of the leaderboard.
The track was badly congested with 30 minutes to go, affecting drivers’ prep laps. When a driver was fully warmed up, the results were immediate. Leclerc went fastest despite a dip into the gravel in the penultimate corner.
Norris’ latest effort moved him to third, just 0.079s away from Leclerc. Piastri’s second lap put him 0.266s away from the Ferrari. Hamilton moved onto second, jumping his team-mate. Both pitted, wirh Ferrari looking to be close in pace to McLarens.
Norris, after a front wing adjustment, started a third run on his tyres. His second sector showed improvement, but could only move into third, splitting the two Ferraris.
A small lull descended over the track with 20 minutes to go, as the majority of the field chose to pit ahead of the final qualifying runs.
Final runs of Hungarian GP FP3
Piastri took the track with just over 15 minutes to go, finding more pace in his tyres. Nearly eight tenths of a second clear in the first two sectors alone, he moved 0.955s clear. Norris responded with the fastest final sector, but ended up 0.032s behind his team-mate.
Lance Stroll confirmed Aston Martin’s pace by moving into fourth. George Russell moved into fifth, while team-mate Kimi Antonelli moved into fifth.
With ten minutes left, McLaren topped the times, from the two Ferraris. Both Aston Martins and Saubers also moved into the top ten.
Norris attempted another lap on his soft tyres, but the performance had gone, going half a second slower. The session ended with no change at the top of the order, with minor improvements in the lower places.
Session Classification
- Oscar Piastri
- Lando Norris
- Charles Leclerc
- Lewis Hamilton
- Kimi Antonelli
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- George Russell
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Oliver Bearman
- Max Verstappen
- Franco Colapinto
- Liam Lawson
- Carlos Sainz
- Alex Albon
- Esteban Ocon
- Pierre Gasly
- Yuki Tsuonda
- Isack Hadjar
