George Russell acknowledged that the worries Mercedes harboured about Ferrari’s potential speed advantage at the Hungarian Grand Prix have indeed come to pass, as the Friday practice sessions were dominated by the Italian squad, who are also the reigning world champions. Mercedes have been the dominant force in this year’s championship, having secured eight victories out of the ten races contested so far. Yet the distinctive character of the Hungaroring – a tight, twisty circuit that rewards cornering ability – led many analysts to suggest that Ferrari, the winners of the other two Grand Prix this season and a team whose car excels in the twisty sections, could be the team to beat in Budapest.
Those pre‑race predictions were validated on Friday when Ferrari comfortably topped both free‑practice sessions. In the more representative second hour of running, the team achieved a one‑two finish, with Lewis Hamilton surprisingly posting the second‑fastest time behind Charles Leclerc. Mercedes, by contrast, struggled to find rhythm. Their best effort in the second practice session placed them fifth overall, while their slowest lap was a disappointing 13th, a full 0.9 seconds adrift of the leaders.
The gap highlighted the difficulty Mercedes have been having with balance and single‑lap performance. Lando Norris, driving an extensively upgraded McLaren, claimed third place, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fourth. "It was a rather odd day for everyone," said Russell, who recorded the fifth‑fastest time. "Budapest is a fantastic circuit, but they resurfaced about half of it, making it extremely bumpy.
The last couple of corners are breaking up, which makes the car feel very unstable. Our single‑lap pace didn’t look great.
The long‑run pace was more promising, but what we feared about Ferrari seems to have been confirmed. They look incredibly strong." Ferrari’s championship leader, Antonelli, missed the first practice session because the team needed to meet rookie‑driver running requirements with Frederik Vesti.
When he finally took to the track, his soft‑tyre runs were compromised by a red‑flag caused by Franco Colapinto’s crash and by his own mistakes, including a heavy lock‑up at Turn Two, leaving him down in 13th place. Russell added, "We have a lot of work ahead of us as a team. Right now Ferrari are a clear step ahead of everyone else. Both Kimi and I felt the car was far from perfect, and there is definitely room for improvement.
The wind was strong today and its direction kept changing, which will affect the track conditions a lot." Although Ferrari have benefited from a degree of luck, their two victories this season have both come in the last four races. Hungary marked only the second time this year that they have been the outright fastest on a conventional Friday. Leclerc topped the opening session by a substantial 0.4 seconds and then was just 0.148 seconds behind Hamilton in the second practice.
He commented, "It was a relatively strong day. From the start I felt comfortable with the car and the performance seemed good straight away. That’s positive, but the weekend is long and we usually see teams improve between Friday and Saturday. Normally we are on the back foot on Friday, so a good start is encouraging, but we still need to stay focused and work hard to keep getting better.
Qualifying will be tight as always. I don’t expect to keep the gap we had today, so we’ll have to be perfect in Q3. If the feeling stays, I’m confident we’ll do well in the final session." Hamilton, speaking after Ferrari’s end‑of‑day press briefing, said, "It was a solid day overall.
The conditions were challenging – the wind made things tricky and the track felt bumpy in places. The car improved in FP2 and we made progress between the sessions, but there are still areas that need work.
We’ll analyse the data overnight, keep refining the balance and hopefully extract a little more performance." Team principal Frédéric Vasseur, echoing his drivers, cautioned against getting carried away by Friday’s results. "So far, so good, but a good Friday doesn’t guarantee pole position, let alone a race win. It’s nice to start the weekend like this, but tomorrow is a different story.
I think Norris didn’t finish his lap, so we’ll see what happens on Saturday." Ferrari’s speed attracted attention from other teams as well. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, who was sixth fastest, remarked, "I expected them to be quick on a circuit like this. We’re waiting for Mercedes to wake up. As always, I think it will be very close with the McLarens – that’s where we stand at the moment." Oscar Piastri, the eighth‑fastest driver in a McLaren that did not run its major upgrade on Friday, added, "The Ferraris have looked very quick in both sessions.
Lando looked competitive in the second session especially. The Mercedes is hard to read right now. Let’s see tomorrow. If we have a good day, there could be a lot up for grabs." The weekend schedule is packed: Saturday begins with an F3 sprint at 9 am, followed by Hungarian GP Practice Three at 11.15 am, an F2 sprint at 1.10 pm, qualifying build‑up at 2.15 pm, the qualifying session at 3 pm, and Ted’s Qualifying Notebook at 5 pm.
Sunday features the F3 feature race at 7.35 am, Porsche Supercup at 9.05 am, F2 feature race at 10.20 am, the Grand Prix build‑up at 12.30 pm, the Hungarian Grand Prix itself at 2 pm, the post‑race reaction at 4 pm, and Ted’s Notebook at 5 pm. All sessions are broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, with the race streamed via NOW without a contract and cancellable at any time.