McLaren continued its strong form in Saturday’s final practice at the Hungaroring, with Lando Norris edging teammate Oscar Piastri to claim the status of favourite ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third, 0.281s adrift from Norris and just ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Carlos Sainz was Ferrari’s fastest representative in fifth position while a strong display by RB’s Daniel Ricciardo saw the Aussie complete the top six.
Cooler temperatures were in order mid-day on Saturday when the final dress rehearsal for this afternoon’s qualifying kicked off, with track temps falling from yesterday’s near-60°C levels to 40°C thanks to the cloud cover over the Hungaroring.
The drop was expected to bring into play those – like Mercedes – whose car struggled in Friday’s scorching conditions.
There was little action in the opening 15 minutes of the session, with the only Verstappen and Perez putting a time on the board. While most drivers were strapped in their car, no one was in a hurry to get going.
But eventually, engines were fired up and cars rolled down the pitlane. As the action kicked off in earnest, Norris’ opening hot lap was already eight tenths quicker than his best time on Friday. Clearly, the cooler conditions made for a faster race track.
After stealing a march on their rivals by running early, Red Bull’s chargers were able to commence their long runs on the hard rubber at the half-way point of the session.
Meanwhile Russell outpaced Norris by 0.105s, lowering the benchmark to 1m16.826s, with Piastri slotting into third, while Sainz and Leclerc clocked in close behind after a laborious start.
Verstappen and Perez continued to pound around on the hards and had yet to show their true single-lap colors in an FP3 session void of its usual frenzy.
A strong second sector by Hamilton propelled the Briton into P2 to make it a Mercedes 1-2 up front. But the pair were dispatched from the top spot in short order by Norris, whose effort was 0.466s faster than Russell.
Piastri followed suit almost immediately after, overhauling Mercedes’ contenders but falling just 0.044s short of Norris’ best.
With 10 minutes to go, Verstappen finally bolted on a set of softs but had to settle for third. With everyone gaining traction on the faster track, more improvements were expected.
Meanwhile, Hamilton indulged in a fortunately harmless spin at Turn 9, indicating that the seven-time world champion still isn’t as comfortable as Russell onboard his W15 this weekend.
The session thus concluded with Norris once again at the top of the timesheet, but much faster than on Friday and with Piastri close behind.
Verstappen’s performance in third hinted at another qualifying showdown with Norris, while Russell and Sainz completed the top five.
An encouraging effort by Ricciardo saw the Aussie classified P6, just ahead of a panaché of mid-field runners formed bvy Williams’ Alex Albon, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda.
Hamilton rounded up the top-ten while Leclerc headed the second half of the field which included both Aston Martins that struggled for speed, a pair of Saubers and both Alpines with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon lining up a worrying P18 and P20.
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