Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) set the fastest time in the third free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix, ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Lewis Hamilton is marking his territory! The former world champion, seeking a Grand Prix victory since December 2021, clocked the fastest time in the third and final free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix, which took place in bright sunshine, unlike the first session on Friday. The Mercedes driver signed one of his 20 laps in 1’17″811, ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen (Red Bull) by 250 thousandths and the Dutchman’s teammate Sergio Perez by 256who had destroyed his single-seater on Friday by putting the wheels in the grass before hitting the wall of tires.
However, Friday evening, after finishing 16th in EL2, Lewis Hamilton had confided that his Mercedes was “at its worst level”. It was obviously not that catastrophic, since he climbed to the top of the time sheet after 47 minutes of session, on soft tires, and no one could do better then.
The French finish far
Before him, Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris had taken the lead in the standings. But it is indeed the seven-time world champion who had the last word, which should give him confidence before the qualifying session at 4:00 p.m. Charles Leclerc, who won the second session in his Ferrari, had to settle for seventh place, just ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. On the French side, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished in worrying 16th and 19th places in their Alpine. Last place went to Yuki Tsunoda, who did even worse than his teammate Daniel Ricciardo (18th), who is however returning to F1 after eight months of absence.
