F1 Hungarian GP: Leclerc leads FP2 as Verstappen only 11th

In contrast to the two red-flag periods and inclement weather that interrupted the earlier hour-long session, second practice was run in the dry despite earlier threats of continued rainfall.

The Williams duo kicked off the session with times in the mid-1m19s, Logan Sargeant emerging ahead of Alex Albon, but the two were quickly eclipsed by Lando Norris's 1m19.044s as the field sought to make up for the rain-affected lost running in FP1.

Sargeant moved into top spot once more with a 1m18.836s, although the Williams FW45 was bearing soft tyres in the early phases of the session against the remainder largely using the mediums.

He remained at the top of the times for the next 15 minutes as the field continued their medium tyre explorations, and a lap on soft tyres from FP1 crasher Sergio Perez was not enough to topple the American from his perch.

Max Verstappen's first lap on the red-walled compound was much closer, but was 0.075s away from Sargeant's benchmark. Instead, it was Albon who managed to knock his team-mate off the top, having extracted a 1m18.377s from a set of medium tyres.

Albon's reign over the session did not last as long as his team-mate's as the soft tyre runs began to intensify; Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg briefly held positions on top of the timing boards before Yuki Tsunoda fired his way to top spot with a 1m17.934s.

A 1m17.701s for Norris on softs brought him above Tsunoda, where he remained as the session crept over the half-hour mark. The Briton's time withstood an effort from Alpine's Pierre Gasly, but Leclerc then swept to the fastest time at that stage with a 1m17.686s - a scant 0.015s clear of Norris.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19 (Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images)

Further efforts from the Red Bulls did not yield any improvements in pace, although Verstappen had persevered with the same set of softs in the opening 45 minutes of the session. Perez in the meantime had picked up new mediums, but this did not yield an improvement in lap time before his retreat to the pitlane.

The rest of the field had settled into their longer runs in their efforts to focus on Sunday's race, with no further improvements in time as the drivers stretched their reduced allocation of Pirelli tyres to their limits.

Thus, Norris could not offer Leclerc a riposte towards the end of the session, as Gasly completed the top three over former team-mate Tsunoda.

Esteban Ocon was fifth fastest, although his Alpine team had arguably taken its eye off the ball when releasing him from the garage midway through the session; the Frenchman's mechanic ushered him out of its holding bay, causing Leclerc to check up as he was in the pitlane.

Hulkenberg was sixth fastest, a shade behind Ocon's best, as Valtteri Bottas placed his Alfa Romeo seventh in the FP2 timing order. Fernando Alonso ended Friday with the eighth-best time, as Zhou Guanyu and Carlos Sainz completed the top 10.

Verstappen's best was only good enough for 11th, completing only 18 laps - only Perez with 13 tours of the circuit completed fewer. Mercedes did not star in the session either, and Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were 16th and 20th.

The returning Daniel Ricciardo put his AlphaTauri in 14th, behind Stroll and Albon, and Kevin Magnussen completed a top 15 that fit within a 0.818s bracket.

F1 Hungarian GP: FP2 results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Charles Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	20	1'17.686		203.017
2	L. Norris Lando Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	30	+0.015	0.015	202.978
3	P. Gasly Pierre Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	26	+0.232	0.217	202.412
4	Y. Tsunoda Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	31	+0.248	0.016	202.371
5	E. Ocon Esteban Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	30	+0.359	0.111	202.083
6	N. Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	29	+0.372	0.013	202.049
7	V. Bottas Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo	77		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	29	+0.399	0.027	201.979
8	F. Alonso Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	32	+0.419	0.020	201.928
9	Z. Guanyu Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo	24		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	31	+0.422	0.003	201.920
10	C. Sainz Carlos Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	20	+0.496	0.074	201.729
11	M. Verstappen Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	18	+0.593	0.097	201.479
12	L. Stroll Lance Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	33	+0.633	0.040	201.376
13	A. Albon Alex Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	32	+0.691	0.058	201.227
14	D. Ricciardo Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri	3		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	30	+0.699	0.008	201.206
15	K. Magnussen Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	27	+0.818	0.119	200.901
16	L. Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	28	+1.060	0.242	200.284
17	L. Sargeant Logan Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	30	+1.150	0.090	200.055
18	S. Perez Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	14	+1.292	0.142	199.696
19	O. Piastri Oscar Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	18	+1.431	0.139	199.345
20	G. Russell George Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	23	+1.489	0.058	199.199
View full results