Roundup of Friday Practice as Charles Leclerc topped a hectic Friday Practice for 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Leclerc overcame a wet FP1 session topped by Mercedes’ George Russell amidst two red flags to ultimately finish fastest overall in Friday Practice, having topped FP2 by just 0.015 seconds from McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Red Bull meanwhile endured a difficult Friday Practice as neither driver set a lap time in FP1 and both failed to finish in the top ten in FP2, as the team reworked their usual programme ahead of a Qualifying tweak affecting tyre usage across the whole weekend.
Now, here is a full roundup of FP1 and FP2 at 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
FP1
Russell was first out on track but the red flags were out in the fourth minute after Red Bull’s Sergio Perez “clipped” the grass on exit of Turn 4 and spun off into the barriers at Turn 5 sideways.
The session resumed eight minutes later but light rainfall rapidly swept in as everyone exited the pits which soon led the whole pack to retreat back to the pits, albeit with a spin for Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas out of Turn 12.
Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Leclerc, Kevin Magnussen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly all attempted exploratory laps on intermediate tyres, yet all quickly recovered to the pit lane due to the difficult track conditions.
Bottas eventually became the first driver to register a lap time as he set 1m 47.787 on intermediates in the 44th minute, before Sainz spun and briefly stalled out of Turn 3 which caused a red flag but he soon recovered to the pit lane which allowed the session to resume in the 50th minute.
Sainz’s antics consequently led to a mini Qualifying simulation as everyone raced out of the pits to explore the conditions and attempt to set lap times, with Russell ultimately topping the session with 1m 38.785 ahead of Oscar Piastri by just 0.359 seconds as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll rounded out the top three.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 38.795 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.359 |
| 3 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.218 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.482 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.892 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 2.237 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 2.347 |
| 8 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 2.568 |
| 9 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 2.621 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 3.911 |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 4.111 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 6.780 |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 8.608 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | No Time |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | No Time |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | No Time |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | No Time |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | No Time |
| 19 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | No Time |
| 20 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | No Time |
FP2
Albon and Sargeant were first out on track on soft tyres with the former setting the benchmark time on soft tyres of 1m 19.660 in the fourth minute, but Sargeant found 0.170s to set the pace only for Norris to post 1m 19.044 on medium tyres to go fastest moments later.
Sargeant responded with 1m 18.836 on his next flying lap which went unbeaten throughout the opening stint until Albon switched to the medium tyres and posted 1m 18.377 in the 23rd minute, as the ex Red Bull driver headed his teammate heading into the Qualifying simulations.
Tsunoda initially set the pace once those Qualifying simulations got underway with 1m 17.934 set in the 25th minute ahead of Hulkenberg and Stroll, but Norris delivered 1m 17.701 three minutes later whilst Gasly bettered Tsunoda’s effort by 0.016s in the 34th minute to go second.
Leclerc however was amongst the late soft-tyre runners and ultimately posted a session-topping 1m 17.686 in the 37th minute, ahead of Norris by just 0.015s as Gasly rounded out the top three as some drivers including Bottas, Hamilton and Russell set their fastest lap time on the medium tyre rather than soft tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 17.686 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.015 |
| 3 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.232 |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.248 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.359 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.372 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.399 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.419 |
| 9 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.422 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.496 |
| 11 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.593 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.633 |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.691 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | + 0.699 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.818 |
| 16 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.060 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.150 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.292 |
| 19 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.431 |
| 20 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.489 |
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