Practice report

F1 Hungarian GP: Norris fastest in red-flagged FP2 as Leclerc crashes

McLaren's Lando Norris set a 1m17.788s lap in interrupted FP2 in Hungary to sit clear of F1 title leader Max Verstappen

Lando Norris put his McLaren on top of Formula 1's FP2 times at the Hungarian Grand Prix, 0.243 seconds clear of Max Verstappen.

After FP1's scorching track temperatures, which neared 60C, the temperatures upon the Hungaroring circuit had started to fall below 50C for the start of FP2, ensuring the tyres had a marginally easier time of it.

Sergio Perez had moved to the top of the order with a 1m18.568s amid the early runs on mediums, which remained the fastest lap throughout the session's opening 15 minutes.

At this stage, the session was interrupted by Charles Leclerc's crash on the exit of Turn 4; the Ferrari driver took too much kerb coming out of the uphill left-hander, pitching his car into a heavy spin into the opposite wall.

This produced a lengthy stoppage to fix the Armco barrier dented by Leclerc's Ferrari, taking just over 15 minutes to complete the necessary repairs before the session could resume.

Once the green flag was shown once more, the usual soft tyre runs began to take place; George Russell posted a 1m18.294s to dispatch Perez's earlier benchmark, kicking off the post-pause shuffle in the order.

Norris then put half a second on his countryman, moving to the top with a 1m17.788s to set a considerable benchmark for the other drivers to aim for.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

FP1 headliner Carlos Sainz closed Norris' advantage over second after setting a 1m18.185s, which cut the gap to under 0.4s, while Verstappen improved further with a 1m18.031s. However, Norris' lap in the 1m17s could not be eclipsed prior to the longer runs.

Perez had set a follow-up time good enough for fourth behind Sainz and Verstappen, albeit only 0.3s quicker than his medium tyre lap - a much smaller improvement compared to the tyre deltas for everyone else.

Russell's initial leading soft-tyre lap was ultimately fifth best, while Kevin Magnussen recovered from a difficult FP1 session to slot into sixth place on the timing boards, 0.021s shy of Russell's effort.

Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo were both within six tenths of Norris' effort in seventh and eighth, while Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10, ahead of the upgraded Sauber of Valtteri Bottas and Williams' Logan Sargeant.

Oscar Piastri struggled to set a representative time and only managed 13th, having spent much of the final half of the session in the garage.

Zhou Guanyu almost created a carbon copy of Leclerc's crash, but narrowly avoided the wall - and Perez, who was driving slowly ahead of him on a cooldown lap.

F1 Hungarian GP - FP2 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	24	1'17.788		202.751
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	20	+0.243 1'18.031	0.243	202.119
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	23	+0.397 1'18.185	0.154	201.721
4	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	23	+0.467 1'18.255	0.070	201.541
5	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	20	+0.506 1'18.294	0.039	201.440
6	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	24	+0.527 1'18.315	0.021	201.386
7	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	20	+0.575 1'18.363	0.048	201.263
8	D. Ricciardo RB	3	RB	Red Bull	20	+0.583 1'18.371	0.008	201.242
9	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	22	+0.726 1'18.514	0.143	200.876
10	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	23	+0.731 1'18.519	0.005	200.863
11	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	25	+0.798 1'18.586	0.067	200.692
12	L. Sargeant Williams	2	Williams	Mercedes	21	+0.823 1'18.611	0.025	200.628
13	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	21	+0.830 1'18.618	0.007	200.610
14	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	25	+0.966 1'18.754	0.136	200.264
15	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	25	+1.003 1'18.791	0.037	200.170
16	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	24	+1.100 1'18.888	0.097	199.923
17	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	25	+1.391 1'19.179	0.291	199.189
18	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	8	+1.498 1'19.286	0.107	198.920
19	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	13	+1.818 1'19.606	0.320	198.120
20	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	25	+2.279 1'20.067	0.461	196.980
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