F1 Hungarian GP: Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in FP3

McLaren driver Norris set a 1m16.098s lap to go fastest in third practice, 0.044s ahead of Piastri

Lando Norris led a McLaren 1-2 in the final Hungarian Grand Prix practice session as Oscar Piastri fell just half a tenth away from his Formula 1 team-mate.

Norris put together an impressive lap to wrest top spot from George Russell by almost 0.5 seconds, amid a second set of soft-tyre runs in preparation for qualifying. The Briton's lap subsequently withstood efforts from Piastri and Max Verstappen to lead the session, putting McLaren in a good place for the afternoon's session.

A slow start to the session effectively gave the Red Bull duo clear track to play with as they circulated on the hard tyre, and thus Sergio Perez opened with a 1m19.159s.

Verstappen posted a 1m18.897s to then go quickest and followed that up with a half-second improvement, as Perez also found a time just over 0.4s shy of his team-mate. The gap re-opened when Max Verstappen set a 1m17.938s, helped by a front-wing flap adjustment to cure a modicum of understeer.

Red Bull's freedom of the Hungaroring circuit ended after 15 minutes had elapsed, prompting many of the other runners to attempt a series of faster laps on the softer grades of tyre; Norris then set the new benchmark having put together a 1m16.931s on the softs.

George Russell then found a 1m16.826s on a second run with a set of soft tyres as the Mercedes arguably looked more settled in cooler conditions, the track being 20C cooler than it was in FP1 on Friday. Norris, in the meantime, also reused his initial set of softs but could not find time on his second run.

This preceded a second round of soft-tyre runs in the final 20 minutes, and Russell found almost three-tenths on his previous lap to extend his advantage; Lewis Hamilton joined him in the top two, 0.2s shy of his younger team-mate.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Norris then reclaimed top spot with a 1m16.098s, putting almost half a second on Russell on a lap with new softs, and was followed by Oscar Piastri going just 0.044s shy on his own tour of the circuit.

This could not be matched by Verstappen's first effort on softs, and the Dutchman lost a quarter of a second relative to Norris in the middle sector to move up to third. In attempting a final lap at the end of the session on the same softs, Verstappen locked up at the first corner to cement the practice order.

Russell's effort was good enough for fourth, while Carlos Sainz led the line for Ferrari to claim the fifth-fastest lap, albeit after losing a wealth of time in the middle sector.

Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon impressed with sixth and seventh in the final timing order, over Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda.

Hamilton dropped down to 10th despite the fine margins to his Mercedes team-mate, as Charles Leclerc fell outside of the top 10.

F1 Hungarian GP - FP3 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	17	1'16.098		207.253
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	17	+0.044 1'16.142	0.044	207.134
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	27	+0.281 1'16.379	0.237	206.491
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	15	+0.466 1'16.564	0.185	205.992
5	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	16	+0.541 1'16.639	0.075	205.790
6	D. Ricciardo RB	3	RB	Red Bull	15	+0.554 1'16.652	0.013	205.755
7	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	16	+0.563 1'16.661	0.009	205.731
8	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	15	+0.598 1'16.696	0.035	205.637
9	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	16	+0.646 1'16.744	0.048	205.509
10	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	14	+0.688 1'16.786	0.042	205.396
11	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	17	+0.705 1'16.803	0.017	205.351
12	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	20	+0.706 1'16.804	0.001	205.348
13	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	25	+0.856 1'16.954	0.150	204.948
14	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	21	+0.903 1'17.001	0.047	204.823
15	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	22	+0.987 1'17.085	0.084	204.600
16	L. Sargeant Williams	2	Williams	Mercedes	15	+1.070 1'17.168	0.083	204.380
17	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	15	+1.193 1'17.291	0.123	204.054
18	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	15	+1.401 1'17.499	0.208	203.507
19	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	17	+1.409 1'17.507	0.008	203.486
20	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	16	+1.477 1'17.575	0.068	203.307
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