Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Charles Leclerc leading, Red Bull struggling
In this second testing session, it is Charles Leclerc who claimed the fastest time ahead of Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly. The gaps at the top are close. Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez are a little further down the standings.
Contrary to the first practice session this Friday afternoon, the track was dry and the teams were able to carry out their plans as scheduled. The session started without Sergio Pérez as some adjustments still needed to be made on his Red Bull following his crash this morning.
Beginning of session on medium tires
Many drivers started their session on medium tyres, with Williams being the exception on soft tyres. In the first few laps, it was Lando Norris who immediately proved to be the fastest, right behind Sargeant who led the session thanks to his red (soft) tyres. The Alfa Romeos were also on an interesting pace with Bottas in 5th and Zhou in 7th.
Almost halfway through the session, Alex Albon set the fastest time of the session, still on mediums. The Ferraris were then further behind and seemed to be struggling, as were Ocon and Gasly in the Alpines. The same could be said for the Mercedes drivers who are struggling to set good lap times, while Oscar Piastri couldn’t get back on track due to an issue with his McLaren.
Switching to red tires
With 35 minutes left in the session, some drivers decided to switch to red tires to gather data for qualifying. Tsunoda, Hülkenberg, and Stroll took turns topping the time sheet. Max Verstappen, on soft tires, managed to slot into third position over three tenths behind Tsunoda.
Charles Leclerc eventually switched to the soft tires, allowing him to temporarily take the lead by 15 thousandths of a second ahead of Lando Norris, while Mercedes continued their work on the medium tires for the race stint. Sergio Pérez clearly lacked pace after his morning mishap and had to settle for 18th place in the session with only 13 laps completed. As for Max Verstappen, he is only in 11th position, more than half a second behind the Ferrari.
Results of Free Practice 2 for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix F1
| Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:17.686 | 20 | |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:17.701 | +0,015 | 30 |
| 3 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:17.918 | +0,232 | 26 |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:17.934 | +0,248 | 31 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:18.045 | +0,359 | 30 |
| 6 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas | 1:18.058 | +0,372 | 29 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:18.085 | +0,399 | 29 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco | 1:18.105 | +0,419 | 32 |
| 9 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1:18.108 | +0,422 | 31 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:18.182 | +0,496 | 20 |
| 11 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 1:18.279 | +0,593 | 18 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco | 1:18.319 | +0,633 | 33 |
| 13 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1:18.377 | +0,691 | 32 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | 1:18.385 | +0,699 | 30 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:18.504 | +0,818 | 27 |
| 16 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:18.746 | +1,060 | 28 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 1:18.836 | +1,150 | 30 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing | 1:18.978 | +1,292 | 14 |
| 19 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:19.117 | +1,431 | 18 |
| 20 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:19.175 | +1,489 | 23 |
