Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in FP3

Lando Norris led a McLaren one-two in the final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri just half a tenth behind his Formula 1 team-mate.

Norris produced a stunning lap to take the lead from George Russell by almost 0.5 seconds amid a second set of soft-tyre runs in preparation for qualifying. The Briton’s lap subsequently resisted efforts from Piastri and Max Verstappen to lead the session, putting McLaren in a good position for the afternoon session.

A slow start to the session gave the Red Bull duo a free runway to play with while running on hard tyres, with Sergio Perez opening with a time of 1m19.159s.

Verstappen set a time of 1m18.897s to become quickest and then improved by half a second as Perez also got just over 0.4s behind his team-mate. The gap opened up again when Max Verstappen set a time of 1m17.938s, helped by an adjustment to the front wing flap to correct some understeer.

Red Bull’s freedom on the Hungaroring circuit ended after 15 minutes, prompting many of the other runners to attempt a series of faster laps on the softer tyre grades; Norris then set the new benchmark by achieving a time of 1m16.931s on the softs.

George Russell set a time of 1m16.826s on a second run on a set of soft tyres as the Mercedes looked more stable in cooler conditions, with the track 20°C cooler than in Friday’s FP1. Norris, meanwhile, also reused his initial set of soft tyres but was unable to find time on his second run.

This preceded a second round of soft-tyre runs in the final 20 minutes, and Russell found almost three-tenths on his previous lap to extend his lead; Lewis Hamilton joined him in the top two, 0.2s behind his younger team-mate.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15

Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Norris then regained top spot with a time of 1m16.098s, putting almost half a second on Russell on a lap on fresh soft tyres, and was followed by Oscar Piastri just 0.044s adrift on his own lap of the circuit.

Verstappen was unable to match his first attempt on soft tyres and the Dutchman lost a quarter of a second to Norris in the medium sector to move up to third. Attempting a final lap at the end of the session on the same soft tyres, Verstappen blocked the track at the first corner and consolidated the practice order.

Russell’s effort was enough to secure fourth place, while Carlos Sainz led the line for Ferrari to record the fifth fastest lap, albeit after losing a significant amount of time in the middle sector.

Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon impressed with sixth and seventh places in the final timing order, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda.

Hamilton dropped to 10th despite close margins with his Mercedes teammate, while Charles Leclerc dropped out of the top 10.

Formula 1 Hungarian GP FP3 results