F1 Hungarian GP Live Commentary and Updates – FP3 & Qualifying
Saturday's action from the 13th round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
F1 takes on a double-header dash before the summer break, starting in Hungary before a trip to Spa-Francorchamps, following the thrilling recent trio of races concluded by Lewis Hamilton’s emotional British GP triumph.
Lando Norris led the way on Friday from Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz after Charles Leclerc ended his day early in the wall.
Final practice starts at 11:30pm BST, followed by qualifying at 3pm BST.
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Summary
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A huge lock-up for Sargeant into Turn 1 sees him kiss the barrier. He escaped and returned to the pits for a new front wing.
And he goes top with a 1m17.087s.
Russell is 15th and Leclerc is 16th as Bottas improves. Will it rain any more?
Sainz goes purple to take the top spot, with Verstappen fifth and Perez sixth in the Red Bulls.
Hamilton is fastest through the opening two sectors...
Alonso second now as Zhou reports an increase in the rain.
McLaren shows its hand with Piastri and Norris now 1-2.
Sargeant goes fastest ahead of Albon, with Ocon and Tsunoda following.
All 20 cars are on track and the McLaren team has told Piastri more rain is expected in one lap.
That's why there is such a rush on a track that will evolve.
There is already a dry line starting to form as the cars circulate.
Hulkenberg will be the first to post a time, followed by Magnussen and Bottas, but these times will quickly tumble.
Bottas team radio: "The track is ok for slicks."
Q1 is underway!
Slick tyres are on the first cars out of the pits - it must be right on the crossover point.
The rain is easing up as teams set about drying the pitboxes. The green light is moments away to get Q1 started.
Some context for the change in conditions, the track temperature is 30 degrees lower now than during FP2 yesterday. That's a huge swing.
The tyres should be intermediate at the start of the session given the intensity of rain that has fallen. I can't see it being long until dry tyres are needed, should the rainfall not increase.
The question now is: Who does the rain suit?
The answer is everybody and nobody. Three session of preparation are out the window, so now it is down to the drivers. Individual brilliance can come to the fore.
But all of that could be completely irrelevant with rain falling ahead of qualifying.
It is not heavy at the moment but it has been enough for the track to dampen. The track conditions are completely different and it could yet increase.
Verstappen was not happy with the balance of the Red Bull - the Dutchman shaking his head as he crossed the line on his best lap. Will those issues be sorted?
Before turning attention to qualifying, a quick look back at FP3, just in case you missed it.
Norris beat McLaren team-mate Piastri to top spot, whilst Hamilton and Ferrari struggled.
The seven-time champion escaped a late-session spin, but with plenty to find for qualifying.
Hello and welcome back to coverage of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
Qualifying is just around the corner and the umbrellas are up!
We're now going to grab a bite to eat. But please join us again in about two hours' time when we will be back with what promises to be an interesting qualifying session. Bye for now.
Here's the full report on a practice session that provided plenty of intrigue:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-hungarian-gp-fp3/10636570/
Late wide moment for Magnussen as he goes off at Turn 11. He's just been announced as exiting the Haas team at the end of the year and he was almost a second slower than Hulkenberg.
And there are no other improvements so it ends with Norris on top, from Piastri, Verstappen, Russell and Sainz. There are then three standout performers in that session with Ricciardo, Albon and Hulkenberg occupying sixth to eighth. Hamilton is down in 10th after a spin and Perez is only 13th.
Ocon does improve but it's not enough to lift him off the bottom of the leaderboard. It's a terrible session for Alpine as Gasly is only in 18th.
Certainly won't be for Verstappen as he goes straight on at Turn 1! Red Bull is genuinely seeming on the back foot compared to McLaren here.
The chequered flag is now out at the end of this session - will there be any late improvements?
Zhou is told to stay in gear and have a slow in-lap, so there's a potential mechanical problem with the Sauber at the end of this session.
Alonso finally shows what Aston Martin is capable of on the softs - and it's not a lot. He only goes 14th with his latest effort, just ahead of team-mate Stroll.
Albon has to fight through a whole bunch of traffic on his latest lap. It's not the longest of circuits and slow cars could well be a problem in qualifying later.
Replays show Hamilton just completely lost the rear through Turn 9 and that is not the confidence boost he needs just a few hours before qualifying. He avoided hitting anything and has now brought the Mercedes back to the pits.
A spin for Hamilton at Turn 9! We said he wasn't looking as comfortable as Russell and that's being born out.
Perez's dismal form is continuing as he goes 13th - he's eight tenths off the pace. Not really where he should be.
Tsunoda goes ninth so it's definitely advantage Ricciardo here.
It's even worse for Leclerc as he's only 10th with his effort, behind the likes of Ricciardo, Albon and Hulkenberg.
Sainz goes fifth with his qualifying simulation and that puts him half a second behind Norris.
Verstappen was shaking his head as he crossed the line - the Dutchman is clearly not completely comfortable with his steed here.
It's third for Verstappen, who looked noticeably less comfortable than the McLaren drivers. He's two tenths down so it would seem it's advantage McLaren going into qualifying later. But we have been here before and Verstappen has pulled it out of the bag...
Bottas goes seventh with his qualifying simulation and Ricciardo then goes fourth as he keeps his encouraging performance.
By: Autosport Staff
