Hungary – EL1: Sainz leads Verstappen by a short head

Under the sun at the Hungaroring,  Carlos Sainz set the best time in the first free practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix this Friday. The Spaniard dominated the championship leader Max Verstappen (+0″130) and his teammate Charles Leclerc (+0″289). Behind, Lando Norris and George Russell stood out, finishing respectively 5 and 8 tenths of a second behind the driver of the Team.  

From the outset, Ferrari and Red Bull began their battles. But it was the Scuderia which took control of the score table with Charles Leclerc's time of 1'19″863. The two teams were the only ones to run on the soft tires at the start of the session whileOr with, Albon et Ricciardo They went on medium tires. If Max Verstappen was a few hundredths behind the native of the Principality, the Monegasque's lap allowed him to push the rest of the teams back by more than a second. After a brief change of leader, in favor of his teammate, Charles Leclerc, equipped with new soft tires improved his mark by more than 4 tenths with a time of 1'19″426. Pushing back the world champion and Carlos Sainz 2 tenths and Sergio Pérez, once again behind 7 tenths. 

To your wishes Sergio 😂#HungarianGP 🇭🇺 | ▶️ https://t.co/t7uFs3yVeh pic.twitter.com/CJFfpu1oz0

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) July 29, 2022

After passing through the pit lane, many drivers went in search of lap times with soft tires. This change allowed Mercedes to get closer to the two leading teams with Hamilton at 0″284 from Charles Leclerc and especially George Russell who slips in front of Max Verstappen. But the sequence of turns compromised numerous attempts, like the seven-time world champion at turn 12. Others simply threw their erasers in the trash like Yuki tsunoda by failing to brake at the first turn. 

Carlos Sainz dominates the debates at the end of the session

20 minutes from the end of the first session, the leaders regained momentum. After stringing together loops at the Hungaroring, first Carlos Sainz then Max Verstappen came to dislodge Charles Leclerc. With new tyres, the world champion regained the best first sector with a 0″159 lead over Leclerc. It was therefore Carlos Sainz's turn to take the lead again in 1'18″750. 

Behind Red Bull and Ferrari, McLaren confirms the potential of the developments displayed in France. After driving for the majority of the session on medium tires, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo set out to conquer the times. And in this game, it was the Briton who did the best, finishing in 4th position, 5 tenths behind Carlos Sainz. A result which bodes well in their fight against Alpine while the two French single-seaters completed the 60 minutes of testing in 9th and 10th position. 

The first developments of Haas

At Haas, which brings for the first time this season developments on the car de Kevin Magnussen, the session will have served as a running-in. The Danish driver completed 24 laps at the Hungaroring, finishing in an anecdotal 17th place just ahead of his teammate Mick Schumacher. It wasn't just the American team that brought new features, Aston Martin also made some modifications to his car. With a rear wing intended to provide even more downforce on the AMR22, Lance stroll finishes 12th behind the next retiree from Formula 1, Sebastian Vettel and in front Pierre Gasly. At Alfa Romeo, Valtteri Bottas gave way to Robert Kubica as in Barcelona and last week in France. But with the risk of rain becoming ever more pressing in Hungary, the third practice session could make the teams start from scratch. In the meantime, the second session is scheduled for 17:00 p.m. at the Hungaroring. 

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