BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Carlos Sainz raised Ferrari hopes by setting the fastest lap in first practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday ahead of Red Bull’s runaway Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen.
Triple champion Verstappen, with an aerodynamic upgrade on his car, split the Ferraris with Charles Leclerc third on the timesheets on a hot afternoon at the Hungaroring outside Budapest.
Sainz, whose car had a modified floor, lapped with a best time of one minute 18.713 seconds — 0.276 quicker than Verstappen.
Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth fastest ahead of Guanyu Zhou in the surprisingly quick and upgraded Sauber and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Yuki Tsunoda was eighth for RB, after a near-miss with Russell who said the Japanese was not looking in his mirrors, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was ninth fastest with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton 10th for Mercedes.
The gap from Sainz to Hamilton was just 0.574.
Verstappen leads Norris by 84 points in the championship after 12 of 24 races.
“We are all experimenting, which is why you will see a lot of performance swings through the sectors. At least today until it probably converges tomorrow,” RB team boss Laurent Mekies told Sky Sports television.
Ferrari reserve Oliver Bearman, the Briton who will race for Haas next season, replaced Nico Hulkenberg at the U.S.-owned team for the session and was last overall.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
