McLaren delivers a knockout blow in the third and final free practice on the ultra-short Hungaroring, mockingly referred to as Monaco without guardrails. After two rounds with Lando Norris, it’s Oscar Piastri‘s turn on Saturday. The Australian narrowly outpaces his teammate, leaving the competition stunned.
Even in Hungary, on scorching hot asphalt (50 degrees), no one currently has an answer to the superiority of McLaren’s MCL39. Charles Leclerc remains somewhat close (0.399 sec behind), but the rest of the field is at least eight-tenths or more behind. This includes Max Verstappen, who finishes the session in twelfth place, more than a second behind – an eternity in Formula 1. The balance issues with the RB21 are far from resolved.
As is customary in the final training session, there is initially little enthusiasm among the teams to go out and play. In the first quarter, both McLarens and Aston Martins immediately hit the track to scrape the first rubber off the hard tyres, which will be used in the race, in the hope of strengthening the tyres. However, there is no guarantee of this. The time set by trendsetter Lance Stroll is meaningless: it’s almost two seconds slower than Lando Norris’s fastest time the day before.
Max Verstappen is the first driver from the top teams to do a qualifying simulation on the softest tyre. The result is not very satisfying, although his time is better than Friday’s. According to the world champion, the balance of the RB21 is ‘somewhat better’ but still far from optimal. Oscar Piastri has less reason to complain. The Australian is a fraction faster than George Russell, but in the second session on the softest tyre, Verstappen pushes the championship leader off the top spot.
It’s a game of musical chairs, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton also taking turns at the top in the Ferrari. However, it’s ultimately Piastri who replaces McLaren teammate Norris, who was the fastest man on the track twice on Friday, and heads towards the qualification (16:00 UTC) with a pleasant feeling thanks to the knockout blow. Mercedes and Ferrari seem to have their affairs in order among the pursuers on the Hungaroring. Verstappen, in twelfth place, knows there’s work to be done.
