19/07/2024
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's opening session the air temperature is 31 degrees C, while the track temperature is 60 degrees. It is hot, exceedingly hot.
In terms of updates, Red Bull has a new Coke/Engine Cover, Halo, Rear Corner, Front Wing and Front Corner, while Mercedes has a new Rear Corner and Ferrari a new Floor Body.
Aston Martin has a new Front Wing, Halo, Floor Body, Floor Fences, Floor Edge, Diffuser and Beam Wing, while Alpine has a new Rear Corner and Williams a new Coke/Engine Cover.
RB has a new Front Corner and Rear Corner, while Stake has a new Sidepod Inlet, Coke/Engine Cover, Floor Body, Floor Edge, Rear Corner, Rear Suspension, Halo, Mirror and Headrest and Haas brings a new Coke/Engine Cover and Cooling Louvres.
While we were expecting more from Mercedes, clearly Red Bull is not taking those back-to-back victories for the Silver Arrows lying down, while Stake and Aston Martin are also finally getting serious.
There is only one reserve driver on duty today, Oliver Bearman, who replaces Nico Hulkenberg at Haas.
The lights go green and Alonso leads the way, followed by Perez, Sainz, Russell and Sargeant.
As more drivers head out all three compounds are in use... along with aero rakes and flo-vis.
Of the first wave Verstappen goes quickest (20.715), ahead of Norris, Russell, Ricciardo and Hamilton. However, the Dutchman is on softs while the others are on mediums.
As the Williams pair finally head out, the only 'no show' is Piastri who has some sort of hydraulics issue.
Bottas goes third with a 20.775 on the mediums, as Norris closes to within 0.035s of Verstappen.
"I have lots of things coming off of my sidepod," reports Zhou.
As Verstappen improves to 19.831, Russell goes second with a 20.083 and Bottas consolidates his third place with a 20.495.
"I had a bit of snap in Turn 12," reports Tsunoda.
Leclerc improves to seventh (20.788) on the hards.
Hamilton goes fifth with a 20.536, the Silverstone winner on the yellow-banded rubber.
Sainz leapfrogs his teammate with a 20.677 on the hards.
Ocon having problems while braking, the Frenchman also experiencing understeer.
Piastri finally heads out and immediately goes twelfth (20.914) on the mediums. He subsequently improves to third with a 20.168.
"****, Yuki wasn't looking in his mirrors," reports Russell as the Japanese clearly runs the Mercedes off the track. Elsewhere, Leclerc takes a trip through the gravel in Turn 12.
Tsunoda improves to sixth with a 20.520.
"The car is quite shocking to drive right now," reports Stroll.
A 19.838 sees Piastri improve to second, 0.007s off Verstappen's best.
Around 'half-time', a number of drivers start making the switch to softs.
Among the first is Albon, who subsequently posts a 19.794, eclipsing Verstappen by 0.037s.
Bearman goes eighth with a 20.371.
Quickest in all three sectors, Russell raises the bar with a 19.137, while moments later Hamilton bangs in a 19.287.
The VSC is deployed in order to allow the marshals to remove a piece of debris from the track. It appears to have come from one of the Williams.
Norris goes second with a 19.211 as Tsunoda splits the Mercedes pair with a 19.260.
A 19.011 sees Leclerc go top, however teammate Sainz responds with an 18.713.
Only Alonso is running the upgrade package this morning, thus allowing Aston Martin the opportunity to compare the old with the new.
Zhou goes fourth with a 19.180 as the Mercedes pair switch back to mediums.
Verstappen goes second with an 18.989 - on his old softs.
Currently 20th, and 2.267s off the pace, Ocon is the last driver to switch to the red-banded rubber. He subsequently improves to 18th with a 20.023.
"The guy's defending," says Russell as he complains about Ocon hogging the middle of the track.
With 7 minutes remaining, all bar Verstappen are on track.
The session ends. Sainz is quickest, ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Zhou, Norris, Piastri, Tsunoda, Stroll and Hamilton.
Perez is eleventh, ahead of Ricciardo, Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Sargeant, Gasly, Ocon, Magnussen and Bearman.
While it was interesting to see the single lap pace of the Ferraris, there was no doubting Verstappen's pace on his used softs.
It's very early, but Strake's upgrade appears to be paying off better than Aston Martin's, while Alpine looks to be facing another tough weekend.
Check out our Friday gallery from the Hungaroring here.