01/08/2025
NEWS STORY
McLaren did not waste any time in stamping its authority on the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in that order topped the time sheet in FP1 and FP2, the only drivers to get under the 1'16" barrier. The best times in the second hour were 1'15"624 and 1'15"915. Ferrari would seem to be the second force, with Leclerc third in 1'16"023 and Hamilton sixth in 1'16"329. Splitting the Prancing Horse pair in FP2 were the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll fourth in 1'16"119 and Fernando Alonso fifth in 1'16"233. In FP1 Felipe Drugovich stood in for the Spaniard.
Over half the drivers used a set of Hards: eight did so in FP1 and three in FP2. Those yet to run the C3 are Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Antonelli, Russell, Colapinto and Gasly, a clear indication of their desire to keep one set of Hards for the race. Alonso also didn't use the hardest compound in FP2, but his substitute Drugovich did so in the first session, so the Spaniard only has one set of this compound for the rest of the weekend.
Simone Berra: "Getting back to a standard format weekend gives us much more time to gather data on how the tyres are behaving, which is particularly important on a track noted for quite significant thermal degradation. In fact, temperatures were a very relevant factor today, especially when compared to those on Friday last year: at times they were 15° C lower in FP1 and 10 °C in FP2. Cooler temperatures mean a faster track which explains much of the improvement in lap times from one year to the next - around 2"7 in the first session and 2"1 in the second. The other factor is of course the progress the cars have made in terms of performance.
"We didn't see any graining and thermal degradation was pretty much in line with our expectations. All three compounds were used in several long runs and that meant we saw that even the Soft is not at all out of the running for a dry race. From what we saw today, the two-stop definitely seems the most effective option, using the Medium and the Hard. These two compounds were pretty close in performance terms so they should both have a role to play."
Check out our Friday gallery from the Hungaroring here.