FP1 Highlights | 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix

First practice in Budapest ahead of the final Grand Prix before the season's summer break. Lewis Hamilton is of the opinion that he could have won the last two rounds prior to Budapest. Consequently the seven-time champ is pretty confident about the team's chances this weekend and of the two Scuderia men he'd be the one to put your money on having tasted the victor's champagne here eight times double the number of his nearest rival Michael Schumacher. However he wasn't totally happy during the first hour of practice. Something's wrong with the upshifts downshifts the downgraded upshifts downshifts all the time. Teammate Charles Leclerc is no slouch around the Hungaroring either. He secured his most recent pole position here 12 months ago. However the monogas man had an issue late in the session. Why are so many teams struggling with this circuit? Well this circuit's a bit of an outlier in terms of all of the tracks through the season. It's a very low average speed but it's also very hot typically. This circuit does put a lot of systems like gearboxes under pressure. Despite his problems he'd already laid down the fastest lap in FP1 clocked at 1 minute 19 075 Hamilton was P3. Max Verstappen finished between the two scarlet cars but almost half a second back from the leader. The four-time champ had a scare early doors on the run down to turn 12. A slower Carlos Sainz on the racing line. Yeah unbelievable these guys. That was actually really dangerous like he even slapped on the brakes. Although noted by the stewards the Spaniard could perhaps be forgiven as apparently his radio cable had become disconnected during his prep lap. Joel Drossel had a big lock up at turn one. The British driver has suggested that he and Mercedes have got to the bottom of his much-discussed power problems in Spa. Blaming it on a software bug causing power unit issues. He was P5 this time out. Audi were once again best of the rest. Gabriel Bortoletto P6. Two places better than teammate Nico Hülkenberg. The Germans still yet to score this season despite some impressive performances. Lando Norris went a little wayward through turn 11. So he just dragged off a little wide and then straddled the raised part. The kerb then drops away so you're now just surfing on the top of it and damaging all of the floor area there. The defending champion performed well in Spa and probably could have secured a podium were it not for a 10th place grid penalty for exceeding his allocation of new parts. The Britain who won here 12 months ago has an updated floor and a few other new aerodynamic parts this weekend. Including a rotating rear wing. Upgrades have been a long time coming for Aston Martin. Unlike many of their rivals, they haven't drip fed their drivers with incremental upgrades across the first 10 races. Instead, they targeted the Hungarian Grand Prix as the place to make sweeping changes to their chassis. Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll took to the track in the new spec. But halfway through the session, the Canadian driver suffered a suspension failure. And he's done well actually to sort of over correct it the other way rather than purely be pitched in on the on the left hand side. So just purely accelerating, putting load through the tyres. Just loads of drive going on the rear axle up through a couple of gears and crunch something gone. This being virtually a brand new car, teething troubles are expected and spare parts could be limited for a while. With Honda set to bring a massive engine upgrade to Zandvoort immediately after the summer break, this should be a reset for the underperforming Silverstone-based team. Alonso finished the session P13, running the hard compound much higher than the two-time champ has been used to this season. Alex Albon suffered a huge lockup at Turn 1. The Thai driver marks another milestone this weekend, providing he starts Sunday's race. It will be his 100th Grand Prix for Williams. Teammate Sainz flat spotted a whole set of tyres on the rundown to Turn 1. Earlier, he'd been thwarted on a fast lap by an Alpine, but not one driven by a regular incumbent. No fewer than five teams ran rookies in FP1. Regulations dictate that every full-time F1 driver must make way for a junior on at least two occasions across the season. Oscar Piastri stood aside for Leonardo Fornaroli, the 2025 F2 champion, part of the McLaren driver development programme, making his second appearance of the season. Mercedes Reserve Fred Vesti took control of the current Drivers' Championship leaders' car, Kimi Antonelli taking well-earned rest watching on from the pit wall. Having been loaned out to Audi previously, Paul Aaron got a go in one of his host team's Alpines, Franco Colopinto having the hour off. The experienced Ryo Hirakawa was given Olly Behrmann's Haas, and Cadillac Test driver Colton Herter took 10-time Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas' car. Herter suffered a lockup at Turn 1. Aaron lost the rear going through the 6-7 chicane, and later had to make a series of corrections exiting Turn 14. Fornaroli got very twitchy going through the final turns, but managed to keep Oscar's car going in the right direction, and later locked up at Turn 1. Vesti took the rookie honours. Understandable, considering he was in the championship-leading car. A fine P7 at the flag. So it finished. Charles Leclerc topped from Verstappen, the Racing Bulls pair of Lindblad and Lawson completing the top 10. P11 for Norris, and he was ahead of Ocon, Alonso, Gasly, Albon, Fornaroli, Hirakawa, Perez, Aaron, Herter, Stroll, and Sainz.