In a difficult, rain-affected FP1 session at the Hungaroring, it was 2022 Hungarian GP pole-sitter George Russell who topped the timings ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lance Stroll. The main headline of the session was the return of Daniel Ricciardo, and Sergio Perez crashing his Red Bull on his very first practice lap after clipping the grass on his way to turn five.
Photo Credit: Oracle Red Bull Racing
As the clock ticked down towards the session, the main headline of the weekend was Daniel Ricciardo’s return to a race seat with AlphaTauri in place of the ousted Nyck de Vries. He was one of the first drivers to queue at pit exit.
The driver under pressure of possibly being replaced by Ricciardo in 2024 or ’25, Sergio Perez found the wall on his very first lap of practice. The Mexican clipped the grass on his way down to turn five, spinning his Red Bull around and hitting the outside barriers with his nose and front suspension, causing the first red flag of the weekend just three minutes after the green light.
As the marshals recovered Perez’s stricken Red Bull, rain started to fall at the Hungaroring, with all the drivers in a rush to get out in order to get some laps on slick tyres before the rain dampened the track too much.
AlphaTauri informed Ricciardo that the worse of the rain would be on the pit straight, affecting turn one and the final corner.
With the rain increasing heavily in very quick turnaround, the drivers had to return to the pits in search of intermediate tyres due to the conditions getting too slippery, with 15 minutes of the session gone, and no representative lap times set.
Valtteri Bottas had a bit of a scare as he spun on the final sector with slick tyres on a dry track, but was able to get back to the pits without any major problems.
With 40 minutes of the session remaining, Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to take to the circuit on the intermediate tyres. The Briton did an installation lap and came back to the pits, with Esteban Ocon doing the same shortly after in his Alpine, followed by Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
As the session reached its halfway mark, the rain started to fall heavily again after a period of calm, providing some hairy moments for Oscar Piastri as he did his first lap on the wet track as the heavens opened.
With just over 15 minutes of the session remaining, Valtteri Bottas ventured out on track, reporting that it was giving “low grip, but driveable”. The Finn was the first driver to do a timed lap on the intermediate tyres, and went to the top of the timing sheets with a time of a 1:47.787.
However the session was soon stopped due to a red flag for Carlos Sainz’s stricken Ferrari, after the Spaniard spun his Ferrari on the way down to turn four. He hit the wall very lightly with the side and rear of his car, but without major damage. With some help of the marshals, Sainz was able to get his Ferrari running again.
The session resumed with 11 minutes remaining on the clock, with several drivers heading out on track in order to get some running on the intermediate tyres.
With six minutes remaining, Max Verstappen jumped out of his Red Bull, despite not setting a representative lap throughout the session, which left the championship leader well down the order, in 19th place.
Yuki Tsunoda lost the left endplate of his front wing after a spin in turn five and a light touch of the outside barriers.
After a flurry of laps on the final few minutes, the session ended with 2022 Hungarian GP pole-sitter George Russell on top of the timings, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lance Stroll. Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso completed the top five, followed by Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant and Nico Hulkenberg.
Daniel Ricciardo finished his first session back in F1 down in 14th place. Some notable absences from the top 10 included Verstappen and Hamilton who didn’t set a lap, Carlos Sainz who had a moment hitting the wall and Sergio Perez after his early crash. The two Alpine cars of Ocon and Gasly also didn’t set a competitive lap, ending down in 17th and 18th, respectively.
