McLaren appear set to threaten for a win again after Lando Norris outpaces Max Verstappen in a revised Red Bull; Charles Leclerc crashes Ferrari into barriers; watch Hungarian GP weekend live on Sky Sports F1, with qualifying on Saturday at 3pm and Sunday's race at 2pm
Saturday 20 July 2024 07:13, UK
Lando Norris set an eye-catching pace for McLaren to beat Max Verstappen and the rest of the leading F1 pack in a Practice Two session at the Hungarian Grand Prix where Charles Leclerc crashed out for Ferrari.
Norris, Verstappen's nearest challenger in the world championship who could have conceivably won five of the past six races but has been left frustrated to claim none, laid down an early marker for the weekend at a scorching Hungaroring with a best lap on the soft tyres of 1:17.788.
That put the Briton 0.243s clear of the second-placed Verstappen, whose Red Bull car features a significant package of upgrades this weekend as the world champions aim to reassert themselves at the front of the grid amid a growing challenge from their chief rivals.
While Leclerc's high-speed crash at Turn Four sidelined one Ferrari inside 20 minutes, team-mate Carlos Sainz posted the third-fastest time to round off what appeared an otherwise improved day for the Scuderia after their struggles of recent races, albeit the Spaniard's best lap was still almost four tenths off the flying Norris' pace.
Sainz had earlier set the pace in Friday's opening session.
Mercedes - the winners of the past two grands prix - finished half a second back with George Russell in fifth and British GP victor Lewis Hamilton seventh. The hot conditions seen on Friday and which are forecast to remain all weekend may leave Mercedes' W15 more vulnerable on rear-tyre wear than their chief rivals.
Under-pressure Sergio Perez was a solid fourth though, two tenths away from Red Bull team-mate Verstappen despite the Mexican's RB20 not carrying all of the upgrades the world champions have introduced for this weekend.
Having finished sixth with Nico Hulkenberg at the past two races, team-mate Kevin Magnussen claimed that same position for Haas this time to split the Mercedes' - an encouraging showing for the Dane, who it was confirmed on Thursday has lost his seat at the team for 2025, after he sat out the opening session for Oliver Bearman's latest Friday outing.
Daniel Ricciardo was a promising eighth-quickest in the lead RB ahead of Williams' Alex Albon and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso. Oscar Piastri, however, experienced a disrupted day in the second McLaren and was only 13th quickest.
By far Friday's most dramatic moment came when Leclerc dropped his Ferrari into the barriers with just 16 minutes on the clock in Practice Two.
On a weekend where he himself is aiming to hit back to form after a series of difficult races, the Monegasque lost control of his car after clipping the inside kerb going into the super-fast, sharp Turn Four left-hander and then going over the outside kerb on the exit.
Leclerc's Ferrari span around and slewed across the track, before scraping along the outside barrier - dramatically taking some of the advertising hoarding covering the Armco with it in the process - before coming to rest in the Turn Five run-off area.
Leclerc was on just his eighth lap of the session at the time and Ferrari will now assess the consequences of his crash overnight in terms of car damage for the remainder of the weekend.
"What happened is I ran a bit wide on the [inside] kerb, I got a snap in the middle of Turn Four, got a bit wide on the [outside] kerb and lost the car," said Leclerc.
"When I lost it, I thought the damage would be much bigger. The damage is not that big but obviously it's enough for us not to continue the session and that's never what you want. It was my mistake and it's all about bouncing back [on Saturday]."
There was a later hairy moment at the same high-speed corner when Sauber's Zhou Guanyu nearly collided with Perez after coming up fast behind the Red Bull driver.
With the latter on a cool-down lap and therefore going considerably slower at that point of the track, Zhou arrived on the scene flat out and then spun, with the Sauber driver later saying this was because he suddenly lost downforce in the 'dirty air' behind the Red Bull.
With Zhou spinning out of control towards Turn Five, the corner where Perez was about to turn into, both drivers ultimately did well to avoid tangling with the Sauber instead running straight on without contact into the run-off.
Much focus on Friday was placed on Red Bull's latest upgrade package, which features a revised front wing, plus front and rear corners, and a new engine cover and halo to aid cooling.
Verstappen's car ran with the full package and the Dutchman appeared in strong form throughout the day around the tortuous Hungaroring, even though he finished it a couple of tenths back on Norris on the low-fuel timesheet.
The RB20 looked particularly competitive relative to the McLaren during the longer race runs that took place at the end of the session when tyre wear was put to the test in the heat.
With Perez close behind in fourth despite the Mexican's car not featuring the complete new package, team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports F1: "It's been a positive Friday. I would say Checo's best Friday since China.
"Some of the cars are working well. There's a slight difference between the cars, both of them have upgrades and the only bit Checo is missing is the engine cover and sidepod element.
"The floor, the wing and the rest of it is the same. We've got some great data."
McLaren, though, clearly remain a formidable challenger with the MCL38 once more showing its impressive versatility from track-to-track, with F1 having traded the high-speed and flat-out sweeps of Silverstone a fortnight ago for the tighter and twisty confines of the Hungaroring.
"I feel like we have the speed in the car, it's just being able to deliver it when you need to," said Norris.
"You can have a fast car that's easy to drive - that's an ideal world. And you obviously have, more often than not, a fast car which is a bit more on the edge and a little bit more difficult. And it's about just playing around with the balance of where you want to sit, and a lot of that is just down to driver preference and so forth.
"It felt good today, but definitely a little bit more from a comfort side that I would like, just so I can deliver a little bit more than just one lap a day."
It was Mercedes who surprisingly locked out the grid's front row and won the race with Hamilton amid chilly and changeable conditions at Silverstone, but the Brackley team did not appear quite so competitive in the hotter weather seen in Budapest on Friday, when track temperatures reached a high of 60 degrees.
"Today's not been a good day, really," said Hamilton. "The weather has been good and it's been nice to be here but we've not really been on form today. The car hasn't felt good set-up-wise but we think we have an idea why and we'll just work overnight. It's not the best prep so far."
Russell, who lapped 0.069s quicker than Hamilton, felt McLaren and Red Bull held a clear edge.
"In the race run Lando and Max look a little bit out in front," said Russell.
"We need to understand because in the hot conditions of Austria and Barcelona we were off the pace of those two drivers. In the cooler conditions of Silverstone we were ahead of those two. That's something we need to work on."
Saturday July 20
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying
5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 21
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday - Hungarian GP build-up
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Hungarian GP reaction
5pm: Ted's Notebook
Next up for F1 is the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest on July 19-21. You can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytime
