Sainz beats the heat and Verstappen in first Hungarian GP practice

Carlos Sainz topped a sizzling hot first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen. The mercury read 87 degrees F, with the track temperature soaring to 136, at the beginning of the hour-long session, setting the tone for a scorching weekend to come as Budapest sweats through the final days of a heat wave. But Sainz and Ferrari were untroubled by the heat, the Spaniard setting the fastest lap of the session on a new set of soft tires with a time of 1m18.713s. It was a strong showing for Maranello, validating the revisions made to the problematic Barcelona-spec floor that put it well off the pace during the preceding tripleheader of races. Verstappen followed him 0.276s adrift in his heavily upgraded Red Bull Racing car. The brittle soft tire struggled to back up for more than one flying lap, but the Dutchman came close to squeezing out a time to at least match his best. His best first sector came on a set of used softs, though by the middle sector his aged rubber had begun ailing under the strain. Charles Leclerc completed the top three in the second Ferrari, lapping 0.298s behind his teammate, his updated car pairing well with a circuit that should suit the SF-24’s strengths. Mercedes’ 2022 Budapest pole-getter George Russell was fourth quickest but 0.424s adrift, just pipping the out-of-position Zhou Guanyu in his Sauber by 0.043s. Zhou’s performance came despite his Sauber car shedding bodywork early in the session, with television cameras picking out several missing cooling louver in a vent on his sidepod. McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were closely matched in sixth and seventh respectively, half a second off the pace and ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the quickest RB. Lance Stroll was bafflingly the fastest Aston Martin in ninth despite the Canadian lacking the extensive upgrades carried by teammate Fernando Alonso as part of the team’s testing program. “The car is quite shocking to drive right now,” Stroll said early in the session, though he still ended up 0.421s quicker than Alonso in 13th. Lewis Hamilton completed the top 10 ahead of the under-pressure Sergio Perez, who was 0.727s off the pace and 0.451s slower than teammate Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo was 12th in the second RB ahead of Alonso, Alex Albon — whose Williams shed a floor edge early in the session, requiring a virtual safety car for clean-up — Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant and Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. Haas propped up the bottom of the time sheet, with Kevin Magnussen 1.582s off the pace and ahead of Oliver Bearman in his fourth stand-in appearance of the season. Commandeering Nico Hulkenberg’s car, he was 0.076s adrift of the sister car.