A change of driver at the top, but Ferrari’s dominance continued uninterrupted in Budapest. Lewis Hamilton turned the tables on Charles Leclerc to lead FP2 at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday (24), posting a session-best 1m18s729—0.148s quicker than his Monegasque teammate. Lando Norris placed his McLaren in third, nearly half a second adrift.

Track temperatures were noticeably cooler than those seen in FP1, giving drivers a tough test as several suffered lock-ups and off-track excursions. Franco Colapinto was unable to keep his car under control, triggering the session’s sole red flag near the 30-minute mark.

Once green-flag running resumed, Ferrari put on a display, with Hamilton and Leclerc engaging in a private duel for P1. Meanwhile, Mercedes—and particularly championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli—struggled far more than expected around the Hungarian circuit.

While it remains too early to write off the Silver Arrows, they face stiff competition from McLaren and Red Bull, highlighted by the performances of Norris and Max Verstappen, respectively. Norris flirted with the top spot on medium compounds, as did the #3 car, but a deficit of nearly 0.5s remains to be bridged to the front.

The top 10 finished as follows: Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Verstappen, George Russell, Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hülkenberg, and Arvid Lindblad.

Gabriel Bortoleto logged his best lap in the final 10 minutes, setting a 1m20s474 to finish 0.4s behind teammate Hülkenberg in 11th. Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli failed to put together a clean push lap on soft tires, settling for 13th place, 1.9s off the pace.

How FP2 unfolded at the Hungaroring:

With asphalt temperatures dropping relative to the opening session—32°C track temperature, 24°C ambient, and 32% humidity—the second practice session opened with only one Aston Martin on track. Fernando Alonso went out alone while Lance Stroll remained sidelined following his FP1 suspension failure. Alonso showed promising pace, recording lap times faster than both Cadillac and Williams, Aston Martin’s immediate rivals on the day.

At the sharp end, running on medium tires, Ferrari held onto the lead early on, with Hamilton edging Leclerc by 0.072s thanks to a 1m19s648. Verstappen sat third, though a distant 0.5s back as the session crossed the 10-minute mark.

Antonelli wrestled with the steering wheel of his W17, but he was far from the only driver battling low grip levels. Broadcast replays caught Norris and Hadjar struggling to stay on the ideal racing line without running wide; Hadjar ran off into the runoff area, ruining a lap that left him near the bottom of the timesheets.

Antonelli sat eighth while Russell, putting together a cleaner tour, held fourth. Norris, Piastri, Hülkenberg, Lawson, and Bortoleto rounded out the initial top 10, with the Brazilian running 10th—0.5s behind his Audi teammate, both setting their initial times on hard tires.

Up front, Hamilton lowered the benchmark further to a 1m19s585, extending his margin over Leclerc to 0.135s. Antonelli improved slightly to climb to sixth, but remained 1.4s off the pace.

With 42 minutes remaining, Leclerc set the fastest opening sector of the session, but a mistake at the start of the final sector ruined his lap. TV graphics highlighted a 0.1s loss for Charles through mid-corner compared to Lewis.

Meanwhile, Antonelli chipped away at his deficit, moving up to fifth and closing in on Russell, though still remaining 1s off the pace.

With 35 minutes completed, drivers made the switch to soft tires. Verstappen briefly snatched P1, going nearly 0.2s faster than Hamilton. However, Norris displaced the Red Bull driver by setting a 1m19s228, 0.193s quicker than Verstappen.

Mercedes sent Russell out on softs with 30 minutes to go, moving him up to fourth. Just as Antonelli embarked on his soft-tire run, a red flag brought out by Franco Colapinto’s crash at Turn 14 forced him to abort the lap.

Green flags waved with 25 minutes remaining, with only Red Bull and Williams delaying their return to the track. Antonelli finally launched into his first push lap on softs in clear air, matching Norris through sector one to within 0.009s. However, another mistake ruined the attempt. “I locked the rears again, mate,” the young Italian reported over team radio.

Ferrari made no such mistakes on their soft-tire runs. Leclerc put 0.3s on Norris with a 1m18s877. Hamilton followed by setting the purple first sector, missing Leclerc’s overall mark by just 0.037s to secure a temporary 1-2 for the Scuderia. A few laps later, Lewis put together a strong final sector, taking top spot with a 1m18s729.

Bortoleto spent much of the session down in 17th with his early hard-tire lap, while Hülkenberg ran on softs in ninth. In their head-to-head battle with Racing Bulls, Lawson held seventh while Lindblad sat 10th. When Bortoleto finally put together a clean soft-tire run, he jumped into the midfield in 11th, just 0.2s off Lindblad. The final 10 minutes were dedicated to high-fuel race simulations.

F1 2026: Hungarian GP – FP2 Results (Hungaroring)

F1 Hungarian GP: when to watch in US ET, London (UK), New Delhi (India), Shanghai (China) and Sydney (Australia)

US Eastern Time (ET)

• Free Practice 3: 06:30 AM
• Qualifying: 10:00 AM
• Race: 09:00 AM

London Time (BST)

• Free Practice 3: 11:30 AM
• Qualifying: 03:00 PM
• Race: 02:00 PM

New Delhi Time (IST)

• Free Practice 3: 04:00 PM
• Qualifying: 07:30 PM
• Race: 06:30 PM

Shanghai Time (CST)

• Free Practice 3: 06:30 PM
• Qualifying: 10:00 PM
• Race: 09:00 PM

Sydney Time (AEST)

• Free Practice 3: 08:30 PM
• Qualifying: 12:00 AM (midnight)
• Race: 11:00 PM