#F1 #HungarianGP FP1: @Carlossainz55 quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen, @CharlesLeclerc.

Sainz Hungarian GP FP1 – Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz topped the opening FP1 session at the Hungarian GP ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen as Charles Leclerc completed the top three in the other SF-24 entry.

Sainz posted the benchmark of a 1:18.713 on the red side-walled C5 softer compound and was 0.276 seconds quicker than Verstappen as Leclerc was a further 0.298 seconds off his session-topping team-mate in third.

Soaring track temperatures at the Hungaroring saw the mercury go above 58 degrees, creating challenging conditions for the drivers to coax their machines around the circuit.

Mercedes’ George Russell registered the first benchmark of a 1:20.980 on the C4 yellow-marked mediums – which was beaten by Verstappen, who went almost three tenths quicker on the softer rubber.

Although the Briton found more time to post a 1:20.083, Verstappen continued his stint on the C5’s and hit the first sub-80 second lap-time – a 1:19.831.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri closed in on this with the mediums, falling narrowly 0.007 seconds off the Dutchman, although Williams’ Alexander Albon pushed his FW46 to the top of the pile before the session ticked into the second half hour. The Thai-Briton driver posted a 1:19.794 on the softs, but this was ousted by Russell’s initial soft tyre effort: a 1:19.137.

Leclerc got his SF-24 entry into the top spot five minutes later. But this was beaten by Ferrari team-mate Sainz, who set a 1:18.713 – both drivers running the softs and with a new updated floor in response to the instability problems caused by the Barcelona upgrade.

Verstappen attempted to return back to the P1 slot, but his effort just fell short off Sainz’s benchmark: it was nevertheless good enough for second in the classification, but two-hundredths of a second clear of third-placed Leclerc.

Russell held fourth, whilst Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu survived an earlier problem aboard his C44 racer shedding cooling louvres from it’s new sidepod package to end the session fifth.

Both McLaren entries followed as Lando Norris and Piastri were sixth and seventh respectively.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda came eighth in the order as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and last rounds’ British GP winner Hamilton rounding out the top ten in the other Mercedes F1 W15 entry.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished Free Practice 1 outside the top ten in 11^th place and in-front of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo who took 12^th and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who was 13^th in the classification.

Williams pairing Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant ended opening practice in 14^th and 16^th respectively as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas sandwiched in-between the C44 entries.

Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were 17^th and 18^th respectively as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Oliver Bearman (in place of regular Nico Hulkenberg for opening practice) brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1241/hungary/practice-1.html

#F1 #HungarianGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1 #HungarianGrandPrix

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