McLaren emerges in the second free practice session of the Hungarian GP. The second afternoon session is much more truthful with a track temperature 10 degrees lower than at lunchtime (they started with 50 degrees and finished with 42, while in the first session they had touched 60 degrees!). Lando Norris was the fastest in the qualifying simulation with 1’17″788, later confirming the positive indications also with a good race pace.
Behind the papaya car, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull emerged with the revolutionized RB20: the three-time world champion achieved his performance in the second attempt, when the red tyre had already given its best. The 243 thousandths justify the gap from Norris, given that the first run had been ruined by traffic. The Milton Keynes team with the standard version car entrusted to Sergio Perez is fourth: the Mexican is fourth in the timesheets, a couple of tenths behind the Dutchman. Checo was also the author of an excellent long run that gave him morale, just when the team was putting him under pressure. Perez, among other things, was clever in avoiding contact with Guanyu Zhou’s Sauber, which ended up dangerously spinning at the exit of turn 4.
Ferrari is third, after being the leader in the morning: Carlos Sainz slipped between the two Red Bulls, paying 397 thousandths from McLaren. The Spaniard has put the red car back in the leading group, confirming that the SF-24 seems to have resumed a good development line with the evolved package that worked. Carlos ran the duration with the medium tyres: the pace was fluctuating but Ferrari collected data from only one car.
Charles Leclerc was disappointing in 18th place: during the eighth lap with the medium tyres, the Ferrari driver ran wide at the exit of turn 4 and lost control of his SF-24, spinning on the inside after a sudden loss of load. The Monegasque hit the barrier quite violently with the left rear and then stopped further ahead, pirouetting again. The driver was unharmed and immediately apologized to the team for the mistake that caused the session to be interrupted with the red flag. The track marshals had to intervene not only to move the red car with the cart, but also to straighten the guard rail blades. A quarter of an hour was lost since the time was not stopped.
The Scuderia pays for a serious mistake by the Monegasque on a weekend in which it needed to gather as much information as possible: Charles’s difficult moment continues as he is unable to recover from his success in the Monaco GP.
Mercedes did not impress on the flying lap: George Russell is fifth at half a second and Lewis Hamilton is seventh at a few thousandths. The W15 did not shine in qualifying, but showed great consistency in the long run. George worked with the mediums, while the Silverstone winner dedicated himself to the softs, getting a good pace and good indications.
Between the two W15s, the Haas of the retired Kevin Magnussen surprisingly slipped in: the Dane found a burst of energy with the VF-24 in evolution version, while Nico Hulkenberg did not go beyond 15th place. Daniel Ricciardo also performed well, eighth, confirming the growth of the Racing Bulls, while Yuki Tsunoda had more difficulties with the second car only 19th.
Fernando Alonso with the evolved Aston Martin closes the top 10: the Asturian did not have very positive feelings from the new package of updates and the confirmation comes from Lance Stroll only 17th. Valtteri Bottas with Sauber who brought a half new car to Hungary is eleventh: the Nordic preceded Logan Sargeant with Williams. The American is dignified (risks being grounded by James Vowles who cannot find an alternative): Logan took only a tenth from Alexander Albon who is an excellent ninth.
Oscar Piastri, who continues to make mistakes with the McLaren, did not impress: the Australian scraped the bottom of the MCL38 on the kerb of turn 4 and had to stay in the pits for a long time. Oscar did a shorter long run with the hards, revealing an inconsistent pace.
Esteban Ocon with the Alpine is 14th, while this time Pierre Gasly finished behind and is 16th: the differences are minimal, a sign that that is the limit of the A524.
