Practice report

F1 Hungarian GP: Norris beats Piastri in FP1 to top McLaren 1-2

Norris topped a McLaren 1-2 in opening practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest

Lando Norris drew first blood at the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, headlining Formula 1's opening free practice session by a scant 0.019s over championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Norris set a 1m16.052s with his first lap on the soft tyres, having already set a somewhat competitive time on the medium-compound Pirellis amid the opening half of the session.

Those early runs were logged on the hard and medium tyres, with rapid improvement emerging during the first 20 minutes of FP1.

Among those, Norris set a 1m16.837s, having found continual progress in those opening laps and becoming the first driver in the session to dip below the 1m17s bracket.

Charles Leclerc then kicked off the soft-tyre runs and posted a 1m16.791s to surpass Norris' lap, although the McLaren driver's time on the C4s remained too tough for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to break down on their first soft times.

Norris then shattered that, finding almost half a second over Leclerc in the middle sector to set a 1m16.052s. Piastri followed his team-mate's time and set a better first sector, but lost time to Norris over the rest of the lap and crossed the line 0.142s behind.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

The championship leader then took another crack at Norris' benchmark, finding more pace in the middle sector to get within 0.019s of the Briton on the same set of tyres.

Leclerc improved to get within 0.217s, but a four-tenth gulf followed him and fourth-placed Isack Hadjar as the Frenchman demonstrated strong early pace in his Racing Bulls machinery. Hadjar had split the Ferraris, as Hamilton ended the session fifth.

Oliver Bearman was sixth in the timing order, a mere 0.002s clear of Andrea Kimi Antonelli - who went faster than George Russell by half a tenth. Verstappen and Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

Fernando Alonso missed the session due to a back injury, so Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich stood in for the double F1 champion - he placed 16th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who complained of sliding throughout the lap, and Franco Colapinto.

Sauber stand-in Paul Aron, driving in place of Nico Hulkenberg for FP1, came to a halt at Turn 13 after facing a "systems critical alarm" on his steering wheel. The race director chose to throw a virtual safety car to ensure the Estonian's car could be collected from the run-off.

The Saubers propped up the bottom of the times, as Gabriel Bortoleto's running appeared to be curtailed beyond the soft-tyre runs.

F1 Hungarian GP results - FP1

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	26	1'16.052		S	207.379
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	30	+0.019 1'16.071	0.019	S	207.327
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	28	+0.217 1'16.269	0.198	S	206.789
4	I. Hadjar RB	6	RB	Honda	31	+0.629 1'16.681	0.412	S	205.678
5	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	28	+0.682 1'16.734	0.053	S	205.536
6	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	26	+0.826 1'16.878	0.144	S	205.151
7	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	26	+0.828 1'16.880	0.002	S	205.145
8	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	26	+0.873 1'16.925	0.045	S	205.025
9	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	25	+0.888 1'16.940	0.015	S	204.985
10	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	25	+0.906 1'16.958	0.018	S	204.937
11	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	28	+0.932 1'16.984	0.026	S	204.868
12	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	26	+0.952 1'17.004	0.020	S	204.815
13	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	27	+1.071 1'17.123	0.119	S	204.499
14	L. Lawson RB	30	RB	Honda	29	+1.132 1'17.184	0.061	S	204.337
15	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	31	+1.143 1'17.195	0.011	S	204.308
16	F. Drugovich Aston Martin Racing	34	Aston Martin	Mercedes	26	+1.217 1'17.269	0.074	S	204.112
17	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	Red Bull	Red Bull	27	+1.341 1'17.393	0.124	S	203.785
18	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Renault	29	+1.412 1'17.464	0.071	S	203.599
19	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	17	+1.600 1'17.652	0.188	S	203.106
20	P. Aron Sauber	97	Sauber	Ferrari	9	+3.736 1'19.788	2.136	H	197.668
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