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Norris leads the way in opening Hungarian GP practice

By Reese Mautone

Lando Norris set the pace during the first hour of practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix, marginally leading over Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc during a steady session around the Hungaroring. 

Hungary’s familiar layout welcomed drivers back under fresh surroundings, with the opening hour of practice beginning when the cars emerged from the circuit’s newly renovated pit building.

One of the first drivers to kick off his Hungarian Grand Prix campaign, Liam Lawson chose the hard tyre for his opening practice stint.

Finding his groove, Lawson moved into the top ten with a time of 1:18.859s, however, his teammate began to excel when Isack Hadjar lapped six-tenths quicker to move into P5.

The Kiwi slipped down the order when he ventured back to the Racing Bulls garage, spending a brief moment away from the action before returning on a fresh set of hard compound tyres.

The white-marked compound aided him in returning to the top ten, with Lawson’s fastest time at the halfway mark of FP1 placing him in P6 before the soft tyre runs kicked off.

The Racing Bulls driver failed to make an impression on the timesheets after switching to the supposed quickest compound, with his most notable moment around the lap coming when he “nearly drove into Isack”.

Ultimately, Lawson’s fastest time of the session was a 1:17.184s, leaving him in 14th fastest as the field rounded out the hour with a Virtual Safety Car test on the way to conducting practice starts on the grid. 

Hot out of the gates, Oscar Piastri picked up where he left off when his initial time of 1:19.535s boosted him to the top of the table, just one millisecond quicker than Max Verstappen. 

Having slipped down the order during the minutes that followed, the Australian worked to reinstate his place as the fastest driver, successfully doing so until his teammate knocked him down a peg by a significant six-tenth margin.

The Australian returned to the revived pitlane for a lengthy period of time before rejoining the session for a short stint on the medium compound, leading into soft tyre runs.

Piastri laid his first red-mark run down with a time of 1:16.194s, setting a purple opening sector on his way to P2 — a lap which left him 0.142s behind his teammate. 

Improving on his next push around the circuit that he claimed his maiden Grand Prix victory at, Piastri moved within 19 milliseconds of Lando Norris before he returned to the garage.

In the final few minutes of FP1, McLaren put its drivers back on the medium compound — a choice that almost ended in a cloud of dust when the Australian dipped his rear wheel in the gravel, however, the error didn’t impact his position on the timesheets as he rounded out FP1 in P2.

As for the rest of the field, the usual drivers all headed out on track, minus two of the most experienced drivers on the grid in Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.

Managing a muscular injury in his back in the days that followed the Belgian Grand Prix, the veteran driver opted to sit out FP1, with Aston Martin giving Felipe Drugovich the call-up once again, while the remainder of Alonso’s weekend hangs in the balance. 

Replacing the Sauber driver during the first 60 minutes of track action was Alpine Reserve Driver, Paul Aron, gaining experience with the Swiss team while on loan from the Enstone-based outfit.

They both slotted into the midfield as the first haul of push laps littered the timesheets, with George Russell the driver to set the initial benchmark pace ahead of the Williams duo, who both ran the hard compound tyre to start the session. 

As the laps ticked by, the top two fastest times remained in the hands of the Mercedes-powered challengers, however, it was the dominant McLaren duo setting the pace in a top three separated by over eight-tenths.  

Coined ‘Monaco without walls’ due to its low-downforce nature, a snap in between Turns 6 and 7 threatened to catch Russell out as he trailed down the order, demoted further by the flying FW47 of Alex Albon.

The Thai driver flew around the 4.38km circuit, recording a purple sector in Sector 1 to aid him in securing a place within the top ten, before he was quickly outshone by Charles Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver’s SF25 was on rails as he rounded the 14 corners, setting three purple sectors on his way to the top of the table with a new benchmark of 1:17.420s — a lap that only Lando Norris could outpace before a mid-session lull fell over the circuit.

Kicking off the second half of FP1, yellow flags were waving at Turn 13 when Paul Aron was forced to pull onto the run-off area as a “systems critical alarm” appeared on his dash, prompting the apologetic Sauber pit wall to request the Estonian to “stop the car”.

Aron’s #97 car was quickly cleared by the marshals, with the track going green once again when the field began exiting the pitlane. 

Franco Colapinto was the first driver to make the switch to the soft compound tyre, moving into P6 with an initial red-marked time of 1:17.959s, which was soon smashed by the front runners.

Norris’ flying last sector aided him in becoming the next benchmark holding driver, with Piastri and Leclerc trailing his time of 1:16.052s as a part of a top three separated by two-tenths. 

Gaining confidence meant drivers began stretching the limits at the Hungaroring, and as a result, mistakes came hand in hand. 

The final 20 minutes saw the lead McLaren lock up as he sped into the first turn, Russell and Gabriel Bortoleto wrestle their cars to stay within track limits, and traffic posing an increasing issue, however, despite the messy moments, Norris remained the fastest driver on track.

The Brit’s time of 1:16.052s held its own through to the end of the session, with Norris leading a McLaren 1-2 to start the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

Slotting into third-fastest, Leclerc trailed the papaya duo by 0.217s while Hadjar was the surprise standout in the top five as he sandwiched himself between the Ferrari teammates. 

Image: Formula 1

Free Practice 1 Results:

POS.

NO.

DRIVER

TEAM

TIME / GAP

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren

1:16.052

25

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

+0.019s

29

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

+0.217s

27

4

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls

+0.629s

30

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

+0.682s

27

6

87

Oliver Bearman

Haas

+0.826s

25

7

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

+0.828s

26

8

63

George Russell

Mercedes

+0.873s

25

9

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

+0.888s

24

10

18

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

+0.906s

24

11

23

Alexander Albon

Williams

+0.932s

27

12

31

Esteban Ocon

Haas

+0.952s

25

13

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

+1.071s

26

14

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls

+1.132s

28

15

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams

+1.143s

30

16

34

Felipe Drugovich

Aston Martin

+1.217s

26

17

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Red Bull Racing

+1.341s

26

18

43

Franco Colapinto

Alpine

+1.412s

28

19

5

Gabriel Bortoleto

Kick Sauber

+1.600s

17

20

97

Paul Aron

Kick Sauber

+3.736s

9

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, August 01:

Free Practice 1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday, August 02:

Free Practice 2: 01:00 – 02:00

Free Practice 3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday, August 03: 

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race: 23:00

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