George Russell acknowledged that the anxieties Mercedes harbored about Ferrari’s potential pace at the Hungarian Grand Prix were confirmed during Friday’s practice sessions, which were dominated by their championship rivals. Mercedes have been leading the title chase, boasting eight victories from the ten races contested so far, yet the narrow, twisty character of the Hungaroring prompted many analysts to suggest that Ferrari – the team that has already secured two wins this season and whose car excels in cornering – could prove the toughest opposition over the weekend.
Those pre‑race speculations proved spot‑on on Friday. Ferrari comfortably topped both practice rounds, even achieving a one‑two finish in the more representative second hour of running, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc posting the fastest times.
By contrast, Mercedes struggled: they were fifth fastest in the first session and dropped to thirteenth in the second, a full 0.9 seconds off their closest rivals. The gap highlighted balance issues and a lack of single‑lap speed.
Lando Norris, driving a heavily upgraded McLaren, managed third, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fourth. Russell, who recorded the fifth‑quickest lap, described the day as “quite a strange one for everybody.” He noted that Budapest is a wonderful circuit but that recent resurfacing had left half the track extremely bumpy, especially around the final corners, making the car’s behaviour unpredictable.
“Our single‑lap pace didn’t look great. The long‑run looked more competitive, but what we feared with Ferrari seemed to be the case,” he said. “They look very, very strong.” Ferrari’s championship leader, Antonelli, missed the first practice session while the team satisfied rookie‑driver running requirements with Frederik Vesti. When he finally hit the track, his soft‑tyre runs were disrupted by a red‑flag caused by Franco Colapinto’s crash and by his own errors, including a significant lock‑up at Turn Two, leaving him only thirteenth overall.
Russell added that the team has “a lot of work to do.” He praised Ferrari for being “a good step ahead of everyone right now,” and admitted that both he and his teammate Kimi Räikkönen felt the car was “far from great” and that there was “room to improve.” He also mentioned the windy conditions and the shifting wind direction, which could dramatically affect performance. Although Ferrari have benefited from some luck, their two victories this year have come in the last four races, and Hungary marked only the second occasion this season that they had been the outright fastest on a conventional Friday. Leclerc led the opening session by a sizable 0.4 seconds and then finished 0.148 seconds behind Hamilton in the second practice. He described the day as “relatively strong,” saying that the car felt good from the start and that performance seemed solid straight away.
However, he cautioned that the weekend was still long and that teams often make a “jump of performance” between Friday and Saturday. Leclerc continued, “Normally we are on the back foot on Friday, so it’s a good thing we have a good Friday, but we still need to stay on it and work hard in order to get better. It’s going to be tight in qualifying as always.
I don’t expect us to have the gap we had today, so we’ll have to do everything perfectly. If the feeling is there I’m sure we’ll do a good job in Q3.” Hamilton, speaking in Ferrari’s end‑of‑day press release, echoed the mixed sentiments: “It was a solid day overall. The conditions were quite challenging, with the wind making things a bit tricky and the track feeling quite bumpy in some places.
The car felt better in FP2 and we made some good progress between the sessions, although there are still a few areas we need to improve. We’ll go through all the data overnight, keep working on the balance and hopefully find a bit more performance.” Team principal Frédéric Vasseur, while pleased with the Friday results, warned against complacency. “So far, so good, but it’s not on Friday we are doing the pole, even less that you win the race,” he said. “It’s good to start the weekend like this but let’s see tomorrow, it will be another story.
I think Norris didn’t finish the lap… we will see tomorrow.” Ferrari’s speed also caught the attention of rivals. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, who was sixth quickest, remarked, “I knew they were going to be quick on a track like that.
At the moment we are waiting for Mercedes to wake up. Like always I think it’s going to be very close with the McLarens. That’s where we are at the moment.” Oscar Piastri, eighth fastest in the lone McLaren that did not carry its significant upgrade on Friday, added, “The Ferraris have looked very quick in both sessions. But I think Lando looked competitive in that second one especially.
The Mercedes is very hard to read. So let’s see tomorrow. If we execute a good day then it looks like there could be a lot up for grabs.” The schedule for the weekend was also outlined, with F3 and F2 support races, practice sessions, qualifying, and the Grand Prix itself spread across Saturday and Sunday. The Hungarian Grand Prix is set to start at 2 pm on Sunday, with all sessions broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 and streaming available via NOW without a contract.
In summary, the practice weekend in Budapest has underscored Ferrari’s current superiority on a circuit that rewards cornering prowess, while Mercedes must address balance and single‑lap deficiencies if they hope to maintain their championship lead. The upcoming qualifying and race will determine whether Ferrari can convert this pace into a podium finish, or whether Mercedes can rebound and re‑assert their dominance.