Ferrari dominates as Hamilton tops Hungarian FP2

The seven-time world champion edged Leclerc by 0.148s with a fastest time of 1m18.729s, leaving the Ferrari pair almost half a second clear of Lando Norris in third.

A largely uneventful session was interrupted briefly after Franco Colapinto spun into the barriers at the final corner, although the stoppage failed to disrupt Ferrari’s control.

Hamilton and Leclerc led throughout the early medium-tyre running before temporarily dropping behind when their rivals switched to soft tyres around the halfway point.

However, the Ferrari drivers reclaimed the leading positions once they fitted the red-walled compound and remained comfortably clear for the rest of the session.

Max Verstappen finished fourth for Red Bull ahead of George Russell, with the leading five again the only drivers to end the session within one second of the fastest time.

Isack Hadjar placed sixth, while Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri finished seventh and eighth respectively.

It was Piastri’s first track running of the weekend after sitting out opening practice, with the Australian finishing 1.372s behind Hamilton and 0.873s adrift of McLaren teammate Norris.

Lance Stroll was unable to participate as Aston Martin continued repairing the damage caused by his apparent rear suspension failure during FP1.

The Canadian had spun between Turns 2 and 3 after one of his rear wheels moved out of alignment, leaving the team without enough time to rebuild his upgraded car before the second session.

Valtteri Bottas and Colapinto were the first drivers onto the circuit, with Pierre Gasly, Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg trading the early benchmark before Leclerc moved to the front with a 1m20.103s on medium tyres.

Hamilton soon lowered the pace to 1m19.648s, placing himself 0.455s clear of Leclerc and only six tenths away from his teammate’s soft-tyre benchmark from FP1.

Leclerc reduced the margin to 0.072s on his next attempt, while Verstappen moved into third and Russell took fourth despite reporting that his Mercedes felt out of balance.

Gasly was also unhappy with his Alpine and reported that the car felt broken through Turn 12, while Kimi Antonelli said he had nearly spun twice during the opening phase and both McLaren drivers had moments, with Piastri running off the circuit on his first timed lap and Norris losing time after sliding onto the dusty outside section at the final corner.

Russell improved to sit 0.887s behind Hamilton as the opening medium-tyre runs continued, while Piastri reduced his deficit to the Ferrari driver to around 1.2s and Leclerc appeared capable of challenging the benchmark before locking up and running wide at Turn 12.

The order began to change once the field switched to soft tyres, with Norris among the first leading drivers to complete a qualifying simulation and moving to the front with a 1m19.228s, placing him 0.193s ahead of Verstappen.

Russell climbed into fourth as Hulkenberg briefly took fifth before being displaced by Hadjar, while Lawson remained around two tenths behind the Audi driver and Arvid Lindblad also moved inside the top 10 for Red Bull.

Norris looked set to strengthen his position after going around two tenths quicker than his benchmark on another attempt, but the lap was abandoned when Colapinto lost the rear of his Alpine through the final corner and spun backwards into the barriers.

The crash triggered the only red flag of the session and interrupted qualifying simulations for Norris, Piastri, Gasly and Antonelli, with running resuming around six minutes later and just over 20 minutes remaining.

Lawson improved to seventh on his second attempt with the same set of tyres, while Antonelli lost the rear and ran off at the Turn 6 and 7 chicane before Fernando Alonso had his latest lap deleted for exceeding track limits.

Ferrari immediately reasserted its advantage when Leclerc produced a 1m18.877s to move 0.351s clear of Norris, with Hamilton initially falling only 0.037s short before responding on his second lap with the same tyres to set the decisive 1m18.729s.

Antonelli’s difficult session continued with a heavy lock-up into Turn 2, leaving the Mercedes driver 13th and almost two seconds away from Hamilton when the field switched its focus to longer race simulations for the closing stages.

Verstappen reported rear-axle locking before later informing Red Bull that debris had become caught around his front wing, although the Dutchman was still able to pass Hamilton into Turn 1 as Leclerc overtook Russell at Turn 2 during the race runs.

Hulkenberg finished ninth for Audi, only 0.024s behind Piastri, with Lindblad completing the top 10 ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon, Antonelli, Gasly and Oliver Bearman.

Williams endured another difficult session as Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz finished 16th and 17th, followed by Bottas, Alonso and Sergio Perez, while Colapinto was classified 21st after completing only five laps and Stroll completed the order without setting a time.

Cars return to the track for FP3 in Hungary at 12.30pm local time on Saturday (8.30pm AEST).

Results: Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, Free Practice 2