Hungaroring F2: Ferrari F1 junior Leclerc leads Rowland in practice

Leclerc, who currently leads the F2 championship by 67 points over Artem Markelov, set a best time of 1m27.516s that was 0.070 seconds quicker than his British rival's time.

McLaren F1 junior Nyck de Vries was third fastest, but his running ended early when he crashed out with 15 minutes of the 45-minute session remaining.

Leclerc moved to the head of the times early on but was briefly deposed by de Vries as the field used the best of their medium compound Pirelli tyres to go progressively quicker early on.

Prema Racing driver Leclerc regained top spot at one-third distance and was not headed thereafter, with Rowland and de Vries slotting in behind him.

Norman Nato ended up fourth fastest for Arden International, ahead of Nicholas Latifi, Alexander Albon and Sergio Canamasas.

Nobuharu Matsushita was eighth for ART Grand Prix, and Jordan King and Antonio Fuoco rounded out the top 10.

Faster times were harder to come by in the second half of the session, with a number of drivers struggling with the handling of their cars around the tight and twisty Hungaroring track.

One of those was Leclerc, who had off-track moments at the rapid Turn 4 left-hander and the left of Turn 8, and he shot across the run-off area each time before rejoining.

De Vries lost control of his Rapax-run car going through the 90-degree right of Turn 11 and half-spun, clattering the barriers with the rear of his car. He did not getting going again.

Russian Time pair Markelov and Luca Ghiotto finished 11th and 12th while F2 debutant Santino Ferrucci, who will complete the season with the Trident squad after stepping up from GP3, ended up 18th.

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