McLaren changes pace and gives a clear signal before qualifying: Lando Norris beat last year’s pole position time in the third and final free practice session of the Hungarian GP with a time of 1’16″098, which is six tenths faster than the 2023 pole position. The Englishman with the soft compound achieved an impressive performance, despite making a small mistake on the last corner.
Andrea Stella’s team also placed Oscar Piastri in front: the Australian had left a tenth to his colleague and then finished just 44 thousandths behind his teammate, a sign that the youngster is also a candidate for pole position in Budapest. It is important to say that there was a drop in temperatures: 10 degrees less than the asphalt compared to FP2 and 20 degrees compared to FP1. McLaren showed its claws, but watch out for Max Verstappen who is third at two tenths. The Dutchman dedicated a good part of the session to a long run on the hard, keeping an impressive pace compared to yesterday and then dedicated himself to finding a time, continuing to work on the set-up: at the end of the session Max chose a mix front wing with a new main profile and first flap and the other two in the previous version.
Sergio Perez followed the captain’s work plan and with the hard tyres he found a good pace, while he didn’t find the right balance in the single lap, complaining about a front end that wasn’t right: the Mexican finished 13th, six tenths behind Max. Not ideal for a relaunch…
George Russell is fourth with Mercedes with a gap of 466 thousandths. The Englishman was the first to take to the track for the second run with the soft, so he did not benefit from the improvement of the track in the final, but the newly silver arrow does not seem to have the pace to aim for the top, net of the fact that McLaren may have already used a more advanced engine map and the official team has not.
Lewis Hamilton is not very convincing, he also spun in the second sector: the seven-time world champion is tenth at seven tenths. The group is very compact if you consider that there are 16 cars in one second!
Carlos Sainz is close to the best Mercedes: the fifth place highlights a very nervous and not right red. The Spaniard worked on the set-up until the end, not satisfied with the balance found with a cooler temperature. Charles Leclerc is not recovering: after yesterday’s crash, the Monegasque has made other little mistakes that have not given him confidence. He is even 11th, far from where he should be.
Daniel Ricciardo’s performance was positive with a Racing Bulls that has definitely improved: the Australian is sixth, close to the big boys, and Yuki Tsunoda is ninth, proving that the Faenza team has made the leap.
Alexander Albon also does his part with Williams: the Anglo Thai is seventh because the FW44 with the soft is going very well. Logan Sargeant is also satisfied, having put the other car of James Vowles in 16th place.
Nico Hulkenberge continues to impress with the Haas evo: the German is eighth with a certain ease. Valtteri Bottas can also smile, benefiting from the new Sauber: the Finn is 12th, while Guanyu Zhou is six tenths behind his teammate with the standard car.
Bad Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll travel together in 14th and 15th place. The atmosphere in the Silverstone team is bad because the expectations were different with the new aerodynamic package.
At the end we find the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly, 18th, and Esteban Ocon last. Between the two A524s is the Haas of Kevin Magnussen…
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