Hamilton Fastest, Leclerc Second in Hungarian GP Practice for Ferrari 1-2
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the day in FP2, leading teammate Charles Leclerc in a strong Friday for Scuderia Ferrari HP at the Hungaroring.
- 1'18"729
- 98
- 1'19"075
- 1'18"877
What Happened
Scuderia Ferrari HP completed a busy and productive Friday at the Hungaroring, with the initially very dirty track evolving significantly throughout the day. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished both sessions at the top of the timesheet, but the competition is closer than the times would suggest, and there is still work to do to be fully prepared for tomorrow's qualifying session at 16:00, preceded by the final free practice session at 12:30.
Leclerc set a 1'19"075 on Soft tires, while Hamilton posted a 1'19"618. Leclerc suffered a mechanical issue that forced him to return to the garage after 19 laps. Hamilton completed a Medium tire long run, totaling 23 laps. Team completed 4
Leclerc recorded a 1'18"877, while Hamilton improved to a 1'18"729, the fastest time of the day. Both drivers switched to Soft tires for qualifying simulations. Focus shifted to long runs, with Leclerc on Soft and Hamilton on Mediums. Hamil
1'18"729lap time
Set by Lewis Hamilton in FP2 on Soft compound tires
“It was a solid day overall. The conditions were quite challenging, with the wind making things a bit tricky and the track feeling quite bumpy in some places. The car felt better in FP2 and we made some good progress between the sessions, although there are still a few areas we need to improve. We'll go through all the data overnight, keep working on the balance and hopefully find a bit more perfor”
“Our overall performance seems to be quite good, which is a positive. There is still a long way to go this weekend, so we have to be on it and work hard to make sure we stay on top tomorrow. It's going to be tight in qualifying. I don't expect us to see the same gap that we saw to our competitors today, so we will have to do a perfect job. If the feeling in the car is there, I'm sure we will have a”
Previously from Ferrari N.V.
Scuderia Ferrari HP arrives at the Hungaroring after a strong performance in Belgium where Charles Leclerc finished second and Lewis Hamilton fourth. This is the last race before the summer break, and Leclerc has emphasized that perfect execution is key to maintaining their recent success.
- Leclerc: Execution Key for Hungarian GP After Ferrari's Strong Two Races
- Ferrari Heads to Hungarian GP as Last Race Before Summer Break
- Leclerc second, Hamilton fourth in Belgian Grand Prix as Antonelli wins
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Ferrari N.V.'s official releases.
Why this matters
Ferrari topped the timesheets in both practice sessions, indicating strong pace ahead of qualifying. However, both drivers emphasized that the competition is close and improvement is needed, making the qualifying session crucial for their weekend.
Terms in This Story
- qualifying simulation
- A practice run intended to mimic the conditions and performance of a qualifying session, usually on fresh soft tires.
- long run
- A series of consecutive laps on the same tires to assess tire degradation and race pace.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.