2024 F1 Round 13, Hungarian GP FP1: Sainz fastest in 1m18.713s, Verstappen second, Zhou fifth and Tsunoda eighth

Round 13 of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Hungarian Grand Prix, got under way at the Hungaroring on the evening of 19 July China time (UTC+8). Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz topped Friday’s first free practice session with a 1m18.713s lap. Max Verstappen was second, 0.276s behind, with Charles Leclerc another 0.022s back in third. RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was eighth.

Ferrari brought a revised floor with a modified shape to this event. Its Spanish Grand Prix upgrade had caused bouncing and made the car’s handling less predictable, and the technical team at Maranello hoped to recover competitiveness. Sainz’s performance ahead of Verstappen was encouraging, but the Dutchman completed all four of his flying laps on used tyres and had no advantage in tyre condition. It was therefore too early to judge whether Ferrari would be the fastest team that weekend. Red Bull, meanwhile, introduced a new, more conventional engine cover in place of the high-shouldered, cannon-like design, trading high-speed cornering performance for low-speed downforce. Perez continued comparison work with the Silverstone-specification engine cover and finished 11th, 0.727s off the pace.

Friday afternoon’s track temperature approached 60°C, the highest of the year so far, prompting teams to use bodywork configurations that maximised cooling. Only 0.15s separated fourth-placed Russell from Hamilton in 10th, making the midfield exceptionally close. Zhou Guanyu surprised the paddock by setting the fifth-fastest time in the older-specification C44, matching his qualifying position at the previous year’s Hungarian Grand Prix. Tsunoda’s eighth-fastest time was comparable with the two McLarens, while team-mate Ricciardo was 12th, 0.318s behind him. The Hungaroring’s predominantly low-speed layout clearly suited the VCARB 01 better than the previous three venues.

Albon’s pre-session concerns proved justified as he finished 14th, with a floor fin coming off his Williams and landing on the track, prompting a Virtual Safety Car. At Aston Martin, Alonso was only 13th in the upgraded AMR24, while Stroll was ninth with the older specification. Haas, struggling in medium-speed corners, occupied the bottom two places: Magnussen was 19th and Bearman, standing in for Hulkenberg, was last.

Second free practice was scheduled for 23:00 China time (UTC+8) that evening.