Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton emerged quickest in Friday Practice for the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.
Having finished third in FP1 topped by teammate – Charles Leclerc, Hamilton bounced back in FP2 with a dominant opening stint before he needed two flying laps on the soft tyre to set the quickest time of the day as Ferrari dominated both sessions.
FP1
Haas’ reserve driver, Ryo Hirakwa – standing in for Oliver Bearman in FP1 – was first out on track on the medium tyre and set 1m 34.406 as the initial benchmark.
Ferrari’s Leclerc however swiftly set the pace with 1m 22.705 which he then lowered to 1m 20.884 on his next flier in the eighth minute, but Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who came out later went 0.096 seconds faster just two minutes later.
Leclerc however responded with 1m 20.287 in the 13th minute to top the opening stint from Hamilton by 0.326s, whilst Verstappen was a further 0.175s behind in third.
Once attention switched to soft-tyre qualifying simulations, Russell lowered the benchmark to 1m 20.066 but Verstappen went quicker by 0.507s, but no driver could beat Leclerc who set 1m 19.075 in the 35th minute to top the first practice session despite a late gearbox issue.
The session however was red flagged in the 38th minute for seven minutes after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll suffered a left-rear suspension failure out of Turn 2 into Turn 3, which curtailed his running for the day.
Out of reserve runners, Frederik Vesti finished quickest with the seventh overall lap time on the medium tyres, ahead of Fornaroli who found himself 16th after he had to abort his soft-tyre flying lap.
Hirakawa finished 17th whilst Alpine’s Paul Aron and Cadillac’s Colton Herta finished 19th and 20th respectively.
Aside from Vesti, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Fornaroli, Hirakawa, Aron and Carlos Sainz set their quickest lap times on the medium tyres, whilst Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Stroll produced their best laps on the hard tyre compound in 13th and 21st positions respectively.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 19.075 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.484 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.543 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.922 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.991 |
| 6 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.285 |
| 7 | Frederik Vesti | Mercedes | + 1.392 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.548 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.685 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.791 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.949 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.976 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 2.475 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.629 |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.744 |
| 16 | Leonardo Fornaroli | McLaren | + 2.815 |
| 17 | Ryo Hirakawa | Haas | + 2.926 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 3.014 |
| 19 | Paul Aron | Alpine | + 3.093 |
| 20 | Colton Herta | Cadillac | + 4.043 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 4.396 |
| 22 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 4.659 |
FP2
Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas was first on track but it was Alpine’s Franco Colapinto on the medium tyre who set 1m 25.533 as the initial benchmark, which was quickly usurped by Leclerc with 1m 20.503 in the fourth minute.
Hamilton one minute later posted 1m 19.648 to put himself quickest and found 0.063s a few minutes later to set 1m 19.585 to head Leclerc by 0.185s as the opening stints drew to a close.
Once attention switched to the soft tyre qualifying simulations, Norris set 1m 19.228 to go fastest in the 25th minute before the red flags came out three minutes later, after Colapinto lost the rear on entry to the final hairpin and spun out into the barriers.
The session resumed in the 35th minute and six minutes later, Leclerc set 1m 18.877 to go quickest from Hamilton by 0.037s, but the latter responded with 15 minutes left to set 1m 18.729 to top the session.
Aside from Colapinto, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was the only other driver to not set their best time on the soft tyre after his first attempt was scuppered by the red flag then he ran wide at the chicane on his second attempt.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1m 18.729 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.148 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.499 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.692 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.933 |
| 6 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.071 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.312 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.372 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.396 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.524 |
| 11 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.745 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.828 |
| 13 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 1.964 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.087 |
| 15 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 2.221 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.244 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.697 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.2713 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 2.990 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 3.063 |
| 21 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 3.802 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | No Time |
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