Lando Norris has predicted an eight-car battle for pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix after the McLaren driver set the pace in practice on Friday.
Norris produced an impressive lap in Friday’s second and final session at the Hungaroring to finish 0.243s clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who holds an 84-point lead over the Brit at the top of the drivers’ standings.
Ferrari delivered an encouraging day in terms of pace as Carlos Sainz topped first practice before finishing third in the second session, but the Italian’s team’s progress was dampened by Charles Leclerc crashing out in the early stages of Practice Two.
Mercedes, who are seeking a third successive race victory, were slightly further back with George Russell fifth and Lewis Hamilton seventh, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez showed signs of ending recent struggles to take fourth.
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After crashing into the wall, Charles Leclerc brought out the first red flag of the weekend
Asked about his prospects ahead of qualifying on Saturday, Norris said: “From today, pretty reasonable. It was a nice lap. Today, we could get a good amount of it, but tomorrow’s another day.
“I think it’s close between us, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull. I feel like we have eight cars here who are going to be fighting for a pole, and even some other cars that looked very quick, like the Haas even.
“A good first day but definitely a little bit more work to do if we want to be a bit more comfortable.”
Verstappen: Red Bull had good day with upgrades
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Max Verstappen says the upgrades on the Red Bull have performed well
Having started the season in dominant form winning four of the first five races, Verstappen has often not had the fastest car in recent weeks.
Red Bull are hoping to change that this weekend with a significant upgrade package, featuring an updated front wing, front and rear corners, while there was also a new engine cover and halo designed to help cooling in the sweltering Budapest conditions.
While Verstappen was unable to top either session, finishing second in both hinted at potential over one lap, but it was the RB20’s long runs that may have worried rivals.
Ahead of a race in which tyre degradation is going to be a decisive factor in sweltering conditions, Red Bull appeared to have the early edge in this department.
“I think we had a good day with it. Of course, there’s still a lot to learn and optimise but I think it was a solid start to the weekend,” Verstappen said.
“Now we’ll try to look into the details to try to make it a bit better. Also, FP2 was a bit interrupted so we didn’t get the full long runs in like we wanted to. Of course it’s the same for everyone.
“We’ll look into things. I think it wasn’t a bad start to the weekend, and work from there.”
Hamilton: Mercedes as bad as normal in hot conditions
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Lewis Hamilton feels Mercedes are struggling in the warmer temperatures in Budapest
On paper, Mercedes were the form team arriving in Budapest having seen their drivers claim a victory apiece over the last two races.
However, the first of those was gifted to Russell by a Verstappen-Norris collision, while Hamilton’s win at Silverstone came on a track with completely different characteristics and in much cooler conditions.
While gradual upgrades have undoubtedly improved the W15, doubt remains within Mercedes whether they can compete with Red Bull and McLaren in hotter conditions.
Hamilton confirmed as much, saying after Practice Two that his car “felt just as bad as it does normally when it’s hot.”
He added: “Today’s not been a good day, really. The weather has been good and it’s been nice to be here but we’ve not really been on form today. The car hasn’t felt good setup-wise but we think we have an idea why and we’ll just work overnight. It’s not the best prep so far.
“(We made) little tweaks (in between sessions) but the car was pretty much the same. There’s a particular thing that we left – that we’re changing into this weekend – that we probably need to go back on.
“It’s all relatively close otherwise. We couldn’t do the pace that the other guys did today, but the long run pace was pretty decent at the end.”
Russell, meanwhile, suggested that Norris and Verstappen could be in a league of their own this weekend.
“The McLarens are looking really quick,” Russell said. “Lando is flying at the moment. I don’t think Max is too far behind. I think there was probably a power difference between those two in the qualifying laps.
“In the race run Lando and Max look a little bit out in front. We need to understand because in the hot conditions of Austria and Barcelona we were off the pace of those two drivers. In the cooler conditions of Silverstone we were ahead of those two. That’s something we need to work on.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule
Saturday July 20
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 21
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Hungarian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
Next up for F1 is the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest on July 19-21. You can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime