Hungarian Grand Prix: Ferrari on top but Max Verstappen pace catches the eye

A smiling Max Verstappen.

Ferrari topped the opening hour of practice in Hungary via Carlos Sainz, but the threat of Max Verstappen looms large.

The switch to soft tyres saw Sainz unlock session-topping pace from his Ferrari, but while his 1:18.713 bettered P2 finisher Verstappen by almost three-tenths, Verstappen crucially was running used softs and looked very impressive doing so.

Are Ferrari in Hungarian Grand Prix victory hunt?

Formula 1 left the changeable Silverstone weather conditions behind as sunshine graced the Hungaroring for the start of the race weekend’s on track action.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez headed straight out with the aero rakes attached, Red Bull introducing a five-part RB20 upgrade package for the Hungarian GP as they look to return to the victory scene. World Championship leader Verstappen used that boosted RB20 to set the early pace on the soft tyre, with the mediums the compound of choice for most rivals. Ferrari were running the hards.

It was not such a smooth start for McLaren though, with Oscar Piastri stuck in the garage due to a mechanical issue. He finally got out there with roughly a third of the one-hour session gone. Lando Norris was not having it all his own way either as he went sliding through the penultimate corner.

Sauber also had work to do on a broken cooling louvre on Zhou Guanyu’s C44, the team bringing a total of nine upgrades this weekend! Kevin Magnussen, confirmed as leaving Haas at the end of F1 2024, complained that the brakes were feeling “terrible”, but “the seat is nice”. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that.

Key talking points from the Hungarian Grand Prix

F1 2025 predictions: Mercedes’ left-field option and Williams lose out on Carlos Sainz

Red Bull’s major Hungarian GP upgrades revealed as Max Verstappen hopes for improvement

The first-half of FP1 nonetheless passed with relatively little drama, as the times now began to ramp up. Williams’ Alex Albon briefly went P1 on the softs with a 1:19.794, but George Russell would soon smash that benchmark by north of six-tenths in his Mercedes.

Ferrari continued to focus on their hard tyre running, the team hopeful of returning to form at the Hungaroring as they continue their recovery from the Barcelona upgrade setback. A brief Virtual Safety Car period – due to Albon’s Williams shedding bodywork after a rough ride over the kerb out of Turn 11 – paused the flying lap action for a moment.

With the track back to green, Norris took over as Russell’s closest challenger, splitting the Mercedes with Hamilton slotting into P3, 0.15 seconds off Russell’s pace. Piastri soon muscled his way into the P3 spot, meaning that 0.15s margin covered the top four.

Here came Ferrari though as they finally took the plunge with the soft rubber – and to maximum effect – Charles Leclerc clocking a 1:19.011 to go 0.126s clear of Russell.

That revamped Sauber was also going strong, Zhou shooting up to P3 but soon demoted one spot as Sainz went three-tenths clear of Ferrari team-mate Leclerc out front.

A “good luck” response from Fernando Alonso – after Aston Martin asked for feedback on the balance to help team-mate Lance Stroll, about to take over use of the AMR24 upgrades – suggested things were not going as smooth for that team. Breaking into the top 10 was proving a struggle, though Stroll was up to the task as he went P8, 0.552s off the pace.

Focus soon returned to the front as Verstappen delivered his next push lap, good enough for P2 and within three tenths of Sainz on used softs. Russell, looking to respond, was getting all hot and bothered with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who got in the way. He claimed the 2021 Hungarian GP winner was “defending” against him.

Into the final 10 minutes and Verstappen was soon finding time on his used tyres in Sector 1, but could not keep the green sectors coming to improve. Sainz would top FP1 from Verstappen and Leclerc, but it remains to be seen what Verstappen can unleash on a shiny new set of softs.

FP1 times

1 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari 1:18.713
2 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +0.276
3 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.298
4 George RUSSELL Mercedes +0.424
5 Guanyu ZHOU Kick Sauber +0.467
6 Lando NORRIS McLaren +0.498
7 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +0.536
8 Yuki TSUNODA RB +0.547
9 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +0.552
10 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +0.574
11 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +0.727
12 Daniel RICCIARDO RB +0.865
13 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +0.973
14 Alexander ALBON Williams +1.081
15 Valtteri BOTTAS Kick Sauber +1.091
16 Logan SARGEANT Williams +1.172
17 Pierre GASLY Alpine +1.263
18 Esteban OCON Alpine +1.310
19 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team +1.582
20 Oliver BEARMAN Haas F1 Team +1.658

Read next: Max Verstappen’s response as ‘on the limit’ Red Bull roll out crucial upgrades for Hungary