2026 Hungarian GP FP2: Hamilton leads Ferrari 1-2 in disrupted session

Lewis Hamilton ensured Ferrari completed a dominant Friday at the Hungarian Grand Prix by setting the fastest time in Free Practice 2, edging out team-mate Charles Leclerc as the Scuderia underlined its early advantage at the Hungaroring. After Leclerc topped the opening session, Hamilton responded in the early evening running to secure top spot, with McLaren’s Lando Norris emerging as Ferrari’s closest challenger heading into Saturday.

The second hour of practice began at 17:00 local time with plenty still to learn. Teams continued evaluating significant upgrade packages brought to Budapest, while attention also turned towards race pace and qualifying simulations.

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Aston Martin remained one of the biggest talking points after Lance Stroll’s suspension failure in FP1. The Silverstone-based squad, which introduced arguably the most extensive upgrade package of the weekend in the form of what is effectively a B-spec car, was unable to repair the Canadian’s car in time for FP2, leaving Fernando Alonso as the team’s sole driver. McLaren also continued evaluating its extensive updates, while Red Bull persisted with its returning rotating rear-wing concept.

2026 Hungarian Grand Prix FP2 Results

2026 Hungarian Grand Prix FP2, 24 July 2026

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:18.729	26
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.148s	30
3	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.499s	30
4	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+0.692s	27
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.933s	30
6	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	+1.071s	20
7	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1.312s	29
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+1.372s	28
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+1.396s	30
10	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1.524s	29
11	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1.745s	27
12	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+1.828s	26
13	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+1.964s	30
14	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+2.087s	24
15	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+2.221s	28
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	+2.244s	33
17	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+2.697s	31
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+2.713s	31
19	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+2.990s	24
20	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+3.063s	28
21	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+3.802s	11

Cadillac and Alpine were first to send cars onto the circuit in breezy conditions, with several regular race drivers returning after making way for rookies during the opening practice session. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was back in his Mercedes alongside Oscar Piastri for McLaren, Franco Colapinto returned to Alpine, Ollie Bearman resumed duties at Haas, and Valtteri Bottas climbed back into his Cadillac.

As Alonso gathered valuable data from Aston Martin’s heavily revised package, Ferrari immediately resumed where it had left off earlier in the day. Leclerc established the first representative benchmark with a 1m20.103s on medium tyres before Hamilton improved by almost four-tenths to move comfortably to the top of the timesheets.

Ferrari looked immediately at home around the Hungaroring, but several rivals were already struggling to find a consistent balance. Pierre Gasly was among the first to voice concerns over team radio, telling Alpine: “Something feels wrong on the car, it’s extremely bad. It just feels broken in Turn 12. Something with the front is wrong.”

The strengthening wind also became a significant factor as drivers battled changing conditions throughout the lap. George Russell described his Mercedes as “dreadful” and “so out of balance”, while Antonelli admitted he had “almost spun twice on braking” as Mercedes searched for answers.

Hamilton continued lowering the benchmark while several drivers fought inconsistent handling. Even Leclerc endured a scruffy spell, locking up three times during the opening 20 minutes before returning to the pits to make adjustments.

The first soft-tyre qualifying simulations soon transformed the order. Norris briefly moved to the top with an impressive 1m19.228s in McLaren’s upgraded MCL40, suggesting the Woking outfit remained firmly in contention despite Ferrari’s early pace.

Antonelli looked poised to challenge Norris’s benchmark on his own flying lap before the session was suddenly interrupted by a red flag following a heavy accident for Colapinto.

Making his first appearance of the weekend after sitting out FP1, the Argentine lost control at the final corner after being caught out by the circuit’s low grip. The Alpine snapped into oversteer before reversing into the barriers, causing significant rear-end damage and bringing the session to a stop while marshals recovered the car. The incident left Alpine facing extensive overnight repair work ahead of Saturday.

Once the circuit returned to green, attention immediately switched back to qualifying simulations. Ferrari wasted little time reasserting its authority as Leclerc became the first driver to dip below the 1m19s barrier, posting a 1m18.877s to reclaim top spot.

Hamilton, however, had another improvement in reserve. The seven-time World Champion extracted even more performance from the SF-26 to produce a 1m18.729s, finishing more than a tenth clear of his team-mate and completing a Ferrari one-two at the top of the order.

With the fastest laps complete, teams switched focus to the more representative long-run programmes that will shape race strategy on Sunday, leaving Hamilton’s benchmark unbeaten through to the chequered flag.

Norris finished third to underline McLaren’s encouraging progress with its latest upgrades, while Max Verstappen recovered to fourth despite striking debris that had been shed from Alonso’s Aston Martin during the session.

Russell completed the top five ahead of Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, while Liam Lawson, Nico Hülkenberg and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten.

Gabriel Bortoleto narrowly missed out on the top ten for Audi in 11th, followed by Esteban Ocon, an unusually subdued Antonelli, Gasly, Bearman and the Williams pairing of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Bottas, Alonso, Sergio Perez and the damaged Alpine of Colapinto completed the final positions, while Stroll remained confined to the Aston Martin garage throughout the entire hour after his FP1 suspension failure ruled him out of any further Friday running.