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F1 Hungarian GP: Norris beats Piastri in FP1 to top McLaren 1-2

Lando Norris drew first blood at the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, headlining Formula 1's opening free practice session by a scant 0.019s over championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Norris set a 1m16.052s with his first lap on the soft tyres, having already set a somewhat competitive time on the medium-compound Pirellis amid the opening half of the session.

Those early runs were logged on the hard and medium tyres, with rapid improvement emerging during the first 20 minutes of FP1.

Among those, Norris set a 1m16.837s, having found continual progress in those opening laps and becoming the first driver in the session to dip below the 1m17s bracket.

Charles Leclerc then kicked off the soft-tyre runs and posted a 1m16.791s to surpass Norris' lap, although the McLaren driver's time on the C4s remained too tough for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to break down on their first soft times.

Norris then shattered that, finding almost half a second over Leclerc in the middle sector to set a 1m16.052s. Piastri followed his team-mate's time and set a better first sector, but lost time to Norris over the rest of the lap and crossed the line 0.142s behind.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images)

The championship leader then took another crack at Norris' benchmark, finding more pace in the middle sector to get within 0.019s of the Briton on the same set of tyres.

Leclerc improved to get within 0.217s, but a four-tenth gulf followed him and fourth-placed Isack Hadjar as the Frenchman demonstrated strong early pace in his Racing Bulls machinery. Hadjar had split the Ferraris, as Hamilton ended the session fifth.

Oliver Bearman was sixth in the timing order, a mere 0.002s clear of Andrea Kimi Antonelli - who went faster than George Russell by half a tenth. Verstappen and Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

Fernando Alonso missed the session due to a back injury, so Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich stood in for the double F1 champion - he placed 16th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who complained of sliding throughout the lap, and Franco Colapinto.

Sauber stand-in Paul Aron, driving in place of Nico Hulkenberg for FP1, came to a halt at Turn 13 after facing a "systems critical alarm" on his steering wheel. The race director chose to throw a virtual safety car to ensure the Estonian's car could be collected from the run-off.

The Saubers propped up the bottom of the times, as Gabriel Bortoleto's running appeared to be curtailed beyond the soft-tyre runs.

F1 Hungarian GP results - FP1

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h
1 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 26

1'16.052

  S 207.379
2 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 30

+0.019

1'16.071

0.019 S 207.327
3 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 28

+0.217

1'16.269

0.198 S 206.789
4 France I. Hadjar RB 6 RB Honda 31

+0.629

1'16.681

0.412 S 205.678
5 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Ferrari 44 Ferrari Ferrari 28

+0.682

1'16.734

0.053 S 205.536
6 United Kingdom O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87 Haas Ferrari 26

+0.826

1'16.878

0.144 S 205.151
7 Italy A. Antonelli Mercedes 12 Mercedes Mercedes 26

+0.828

1'16.880

0.002 S 205.145
8 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 26

+0.873

1'16.925

0.045 S 205.025
9 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 25

+0.888

1'16.940

0.015 S 204.985
10 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 25

+0.906

1'16.958

0.018 S 204.937
11 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 28

+0.932

1'16.984

0.026 S 204.868
12 France E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31 Haas Ferrari 26

+0.952

1'17.004

0.020 S 204.815
13 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 27

+1.071

1'17.123

0.119 S 204.499
14 New Zealand L. Lawson RB 30 RB Honda 29

+1.132

1'17.184

0.061 S 204.337
15 Spain C. Sainz Williams 55 Williams Mercedes 31

+1.143

1'17.195

0.011 S 204.308
16 Brazil F. Drugovich Aston Martin Racing 34 Aston Martin Mercedes 26

+1.217

1'17.269

0.074 S 204.112
17 Japan Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing 22 Red Bull Red Bull 27

+1.341

1'17.393

0.124 S 203.785
18 Argentina F. Colapinto Alpine 43 Alpine Renault 29

+1.412

1'17.464

0.071 S 203.599
19 Brazil G. Bortoleto Sauber 5 Sauber Ferrari 17

+1.600

1'17.652

0.188 S 203.106
20
P. Aron Sauber
97 Sauber Ferrari 9

+3.736

1'19.788

2.136 H 197.668
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