Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc emerged fastest in Friday Practice for 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Ferrari dominated both session as Carlos Sainz topped FP1 but Leclerc was the dominant driver throughout FP2 with the fastest overall time, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Sainz.
This race also marked the final race before F1’s summer break so teams also focused on data gathering across various sections of their cars, in order to enable them to undertake analysis during the break whilst factories are shut down to give staff a rest.
Now, here is a full roundup of FP1 and FP2 at the Hungaroring.
FP1
Just over 24 hours since he announced his retirement from F1 at end of this season, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was first out on track, ahead of his Aston Martin teammate – Lance Stroll, as everyone but Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell headed out early to gather aerodynamic data.
Up front, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on 1m 21.235 headed Ferrari’s Sainz as the pair plus Leclerc set the initial pace, although Sainz and Leclerc would trade fastest laps throughout the first half of session with Verstappen often falling short of Leclerc’s lap times.
Leclerc ultimately emerged fastest at the halfway point by 0.244 seconds ahead of Verstappen and Sainz, as everyone else largely ran on medium or hard tyres in their opening stints.
Russell however briefly disrupted the frontrunners as he popped up in second in the 31st minute but both Ferrari drivers and Verstappen soon came out for another scrap, which was ultimately won at the checkered flag by Sainz who set a session-topping 1m 18.750 in the 48th minute.
Verstappen finished second quickest ahead of Leclerc as Norris recovered from a sluggish start to the session to finish fourth ahead of fellow Brit, George Russell who was fifth quickest.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m 18.750 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.130 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.289 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.549 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.856 |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.872 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.960 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.091 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.598 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.627 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.633 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.677 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.706 |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.945 |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 2.060 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.084 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.171 |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.277 |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | + 2.429 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.663 |
FP2
Like in FP1, Vettel was first out on track but he and Stroll pitted at conclusion of their installation laps, whilst Sergio Perez set the initial benchmark time of 1m 20.567 on medium tyres but Leclerc topped the opening runs with 1m 18.911 ahead of Sainz.
Once the soft tyre Qualifying simulations got underway, Norris briefly went top with 1m 18.662 in the 27th minute but was displaced a minute later as Leclerc posted 1m 18.445 to top the session from the Brit and Sainz as race simulations proceeded smoothly with little issues.
Verstappen settled for fourth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Vettel, Russell, Perez and Bottas, who rounded out the top ten ahead of Hamilton who was best of the rest in 11th, albeit 1.102s off the pace.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 18.445 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.217 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.231 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.283 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 0.427 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.604 |
| 7 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.808 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.910 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.952 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.966 |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.102 |
| 12 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.160 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.169 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.257 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.285 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.373 |
| 17 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.540 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.043 |
| 19 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 2.076 |
| 20 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.170 |
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