George Russell acknowledged that the anxieties Mercedes harboured regarding Ferrari's potential speed at the Hungarian Grand Prix were justified after a Friday practice session that was clearly dominated by their title‑contending rivals. Mercedes have been the leading force in the championship, having secured eight victories out of the ten races contested so far, yet the twisty, narrow character of the Hungaroring had sparked speculation that Ferrari—who had already won the other two Grand Prix of the season and whose car excels in high‑speed cornering—could emerge as the team to beat this weekend. Those pre‑race predictions were borne out on Friday when the Italian squad topped both free‑practice sessions with ease.
In the more representative second hour of running, Ferrari achieved a one‑two finish, with Lewis Hamilton surprisingly finding himself behind Charles Leclerc, who posted the quickest time. By contrast, Mercedes struggled to find rhythm, ending the second practice session only fifth and thirteenth fastest, respectively, and lagging by an unusually large 0.9 seconds from the front‑running Ferraris. The gap highlighted balance issues and a lack of single‑lap pace. Lando Norris, who was driving a heavily upgraded McLaren, managed third place, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fourth.
"It was quite a strange day out there, I think, for everybody," said Russell, who recorded the fifth‑fastest time. He went on to describe the circuit conditions: "Budapest is an amazing track to drive, but they've resurfaced half the track. It’s super bumpy and a lot of it is breaking up around the last couple of corners, which makes it quite odd to drive on." Russell added that the car’s single‑lap performance "didn't look great" while the longer runs appeared more competitive. "What we feared with Ferrari seemed to be the case – they look very, very strong," he observed.
Ferrari’s championship leader, Antonelli, who sat out the first practice session to satisfy the rookie‑driver running requirements with Frederik Vesti, found himself down in 13th after his soft‑tyre runs were disrupted by a red flag caused by Franco Colapinto’s crash and by his own mistakes, including a significant lock‑up at Turn Two. Russell reflected on the team's overall situation: "We've got work to do as a team.
Ferrari are a good step ahead of everyone right now. I think for both Kimi and me the car was far from great, to be honest, and we think there is room to improve. It was really windy today and I think the wind direction is going to be shifting, so that could change a lot." Although Ferrari have benefited from a degree of luck, both of their wins this season have come in the last four races, and Hungary marked only the second occasion this year that they had topped a conventional Friday session.
Leclerc topped the opening practice by a substantial 0.4 seconds and then finished just 0.148 seconds behind Hamilton in the second session. He said, "It was a relatively strong day. From the beginning I felt quite good with the car and performance seemed to be good straight away.
That's a good thing but the weekend is still long and from Friday to Saturday we see teams making a jump in performance. 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. But 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, added, "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 Frederic Vasseur, echoing his drivers, cautioned against getting carried away by the Friday results.
"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 caught the attention of other competitors as well. 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 quickest in the sole 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 weekend schedule is packed with support series and qualifying sessions. On Saturday, July 25, the day begins with an F3 sprint at 9:00 am, followed by Hungarian GP Practice Three at 11:15 am (session starts at 11:30 am), an F2 sprint at 1:10 pm, and the qualifying build‑up at 2:15 pm, leading into the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying at 3:00 pm.
The day concludes with Ted’s Qualifying Notebook at 5:00 pm. Sunday, July 26, features an F3 feature race at 7:35 am, the Porsche Supercup at 9:05 am, the F2 feature race at 10:20 am, the Grand Prix build‑up at 12:30 pm, and finally the Hungarian Grand Prix itself at 2:00 pm, followed by post‑race reaction and Ted’s Notebook later in the afternoon. All sessions are broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, and the race can be streamed via NOW with a flexible, no‑contract subscription.
In summary, Russell’s comments underscore Mercedes’ realization that their concerns about Ferrari’s pace were well‑founded, especially on a circuit that rewards cornering speed and tyre management. While Mercedes must address balance and single‑lap performance issues, Ferrari appears to have found a rhythm that could challenge the championship order, making the upcoming qualifying and race in Budapest a pivotal showdown for the title contenders.