Hungaroring, FP2: Leclerc tops the timesheet

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc went quickest in second practice for the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix beating McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.2 seconds with Carlos Sainz third in the other Ferrari. World Championship leader Max Verstappen finished fourth for Red Bull.

At the start of the second hour of practice the first man out on track was Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who ahead of the weekend announced his intention to retire from the sport at the end of the 2022 season. He was followed by team-mate Lance Stroll, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

It was Sainz, though, who set the early pace, the Spaniard setting a time of 1:20.487 on medium tyres. Verstappen took over at the top with a 1:19.854 before Leclerc made his way to the top with a lap of 1:18.911.

That lap have the Monegasque deriver bragging right in the medium-tyre phase of the session ahead of Sainz and Verstappen, while the Dutchman’s team-mate Sergio Pérez managed to climb to third, though as in France last weekend, the Mexican looked less comfortable in the current spec RB18 than his Red Bull team-mate.

Then came the switch to soft tyres for performance runs and while Sainz made a small improvement to 1:19.392 it was Norris who rose to the top of the order. The Briton notched a time of 1m18.662s, despite going marginally wide in the final corner and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Leclerc then emerged on the red-banded Pirelli tyres and he powered to a time of 1:18.445, just over two tenths of a second clear of the McLaren driver. The Ferrari driver’s time would remain the best of the session.

Sainz took third place ahead of Verstappen who spent a long spell in the garage as his team worked his suspension set-up following complaints about oscillations from the Dutchman.

A good day for McLaren was confirmed by Daniel Ricciardo who took fifth place for the British team ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

Vettel finished the session in seventh place ahead of George Russell, who ended the session as the quickest of the two Mercedes, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton down in 112th place in a session that featured a number of off-track excursions. Pérez finished ninth ahead of Bottas.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu took 12th spot ahead of the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was 15th ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. Mick Schumacher wass 17th in the second Haas ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and the second Williams of Alex Albon.