Last-minute Latifi leads wet FP3 before 2022 Hungarian GP qualifying

However, eyes were mainly on Aston Martin which caught attention with its new rear wing endplates.

With the downforce-enhancing upgrade, both drivers completed a solid session, finishing P11 and P12, led by Sebastian Vettel.

Ten minutes in, Leclerc swept to the top of the timesheet, going half a second faster than anybody else, with Verstappen splitting the Ferrari’s.

While the times tumbled, Perez and Norris remained in the pits for the first part of the session; Norris only emerging with 27 minutes left on the clock. His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was having some joy on the track, showing strong pace on the medium tyre.

The top three drivers repeatedly exchanged positions in the first half of the session but Ferrari continued to have the edge and its drivers were the first to go below 1min 20sec.

A greater challenge came halfway through the session as more teams strapped on the soft tyres: Hamilton went fourth, then Russell jumped to second while Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda went up into the top 10 on the soft compound.

McLaren’s medium pace remained evident, as both drivers remained in the top ten without using soft tyres, until the final ten minutes.

By that time, Sainz was quickest with a 1min 18.750sec lap, edging Verstappen.

2022 Hungarian Grand Prix FP1 results

It was 27 minutes until Leclerc was knocked off his perch — by Lando Norris running the soft compound.

Not everyone was so in harmony with their tyres: Albon porpoised down the start-finish straight then locked up his rear tyres and spun off at Turn 1.

Russell was also locking up his rear tyres at the opening hairpin on several laps. “What the hell is going on at Turn 1?” he asked over team radio. “I just cannot get round the corner without locking.”

As the time ran down, more teams fitted the soft tyres and Alonso jumped up to third, Vettel one behind, Hamilton sixth, Stroll eighth and Russell ninth.

Then all of those times were beaten by Leclerc, who went fastest by a couple of tenths with a 1min 18.445sec.

His team-mate joined him on that compound going third behind Norris, with Red Bull initially only good enough for fourth and eighth on the softs.

The final 20 minutes then saw drivers go back onto the medium tyre with McLaren even opting for hards.

Norris recorded a 1min 24.801sec on that compound, so with drivers now going through their various testing programmes, the timesheet remained unchallenged.

2022 Hungarian Grand Prix FP2 results

FP3

With rain hammering down drivers were hesitant to head out, but both Ferraris hit the track with almost five minutes gone.

Leclerc had a scary moment of oversteer before the first chicane but kept it on the road – soon almost all the cars were circulating at a rain-soaked Hungaroring.

Ferrari’s Monegasque then set the fastest early lap with a 1min 43.364sec. “I think the inters could be a good option, there’s not too much aquaplaning,” he told the Scuderia soon after.

One driver not on track was Lewis Hamilton, his W13 needing a last-minute legality check after changes to the floor.

Leclerc was almost a second clear of team-mate Sainz with Alonso third-quickest, albeit 2.4sec off the fastest Ferrari. The Alpine was clearly putting a lot of stock in the running of FP3, switching between wets and inters in a busy programme.

Aston Martin had shown improved performance on Friday with its new aero updates, and the Silverstone machines looked quick again as Vettel and Stroll filed in third and fourth – they were 2.2sec and 2.4sec off the pace respectively.

Gasly, Albon and Zhou all slid off at Turn 4, and with almost 20 minutes gone neither Hamilton or either Red Bull had set a lap.

Vettel the went second as he got within 8.sec of Leclerc, while Magnussen jumped up to fourth in his upgraded Haas on 1min 44.456sec, with his team-mate Schumacher half a second behind.

At the halfway point still neither Red Bull had emerged, as Russell reported “No grip – struggling a lot”.

With 20 minutes left Lando Norris, who took pole at a wet Sochi last year, posted a time good enough for fourth, 1.2sec off Leclerc’s headline lap.

Russell headed out for a speculative outlap on inters, but came straight back in without driving in anger.

Verstappen next headed out on intermediates with less than 20 minutes of the session gone, whilst Albon showed how conditions were beginning to come towards that compound with a time good enough for sixth o 1min 44.919sec, before Alonso displaced him by going 0.3sec quicker.

Not everyone was enjoying them: “I’ve got absolutely no grip at the moment,” Ricciardo told McLaren.

“For some reason my rears feel like ice – oh my god,” areed Schumacher, as Leclerc performed an elegant double pirouette coming out of Turn 3.

Russell went back to the wet tyres and went straight off at Turn 12, clearly stillnot enjoying the conditions.

Alonso’s hard work paid off, as he got to within 0.2sec of Leclerc on the intermediate tyres with ten minutes to go.

Moments later Vettel, who had announced his retirement at the weekend, lost the rear end of his Aston Martin at Turn 10, wedging it into the barriers.

“Sorry, **** – aargh,” was his exclamation on the radio and the crash brought out the red flag.

It looked like the session might over, but cars did manage did get out for four minutes of green flag running, as Leclerc and Verstappen traded fastest laps on intermediates, before a shock name hit the top – Nicholas Latifi.

The Williams driver went 0.6sec clear of the field on the drying track, with his team-mate Albon 0.9sec away in third. Leclerc was in the Williams sandwich, Verstappen fourth and Russell fifth.

FP3 CLASSIFICATION 👀

What a session that was! #HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/7r0Uts18RK

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 30, 2022