Double fastest time for McLaren in final practice at the Hungaroring: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri also beat Max Verstappen by three tenths of a second
Lando Norris and the McLaren team go into qualifying for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, which takes place at the Hungaroring from 17:00 on Saturday, as the top favorites. Norris set the fastest time in the third free practice session (FP3) in much cooler conditions than on Friday (37 instead of 60 degrees asphalt temperature)
Norris clocked a time of 1:16.098 minutes, beating his team-mate Oscar Piastri into second place by 0.044 seconds. Piastri was even slightly faster than Norris in the third sector. This speaks in McLaren’s favor, as the lead over the first pursuer, Max Verstappen on Red Bull, was 0.281 seconds in the end.
Verstappen was not completely satisfied with the balance of his Red Bull in the first FT3 run, but from the second (“It’s a bit better now”) onwards. Which suggests that Red Bull was once again not at the top of its game from the start, but may have got it right in time for qualifying.
“There are two corners where Max didn’t drive optimally,” said Helmut Marko in an interview with ORF. “But the bottom line is: McLaren is very, very fast. What perhaps gives us hope is that we only used one new set of tires. If you put a second one on, that’s about two tenths.”
“So it will be very close in qualifying. The positive thing is that our long runs with the hard tire were very good. I think it will only be between McLaren and us in qualifying. And then in the race, although it’s a very tight circuit, overtaking maneuvers are also possible with the tire wear.”
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) went out late for his fast qualifying simulation – and spun in the middle sector. He finished tenth, 0.688 seconds behind. Hamilton’s spin not only ruined his own lap, but also that of Fernando Alonso (14th/Aston Martin/0.903) due to the yellow flags.
George Russell (Mercedes) finished fourth, albeit with a gap of 0.466 seconds. Behind him were Carlos Sainz (Ferrari/+0.541), Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls/+0.554), Alexander Albon (Williams/+0.563) and Nico Hülkenberg (Haas).
Hülkenberg (Haas) maintained the absolute best time in the first sector until the end. With his lap time of 1:16.696 minutes, he ultimately took eighth place. The gap to Norris was 0.598 seconds. He was 0.811 seconds ahead of his team-mate Kevin Magnussen (19th).
Where can you watch the Hungarian Grand Prix live?
First of all: Even if you didn’t watch the sessions live, you can still get your fill of Formula 1 in the evening. Christian Nimmervoll and Frederik Hackbarth will analyze the day in Budapest on Saturday at 22:00, supported by a team of several journalists on site at the Hungaroring.
The good news for German Formula 1 fans is that qualifying and the race at the Hungarian Grand Prix will be broadcast live by RTL. Qualifying on Saturday from 16:00 (pre-reports: 15:30), the race on Sunday from 15:00.
