Leclerc tops FP1, Stroll suffers suspected suspension failure with upgraded Aston Martin

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc topped opening practice at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix, his early benchmark proving over four tenths quicker than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Leclerc headed Hamilton in the opening stages of practice as Ferrari adorned its ‘Macarena’ wing with an eye-catching three-piece winglet on top of its actuator, an optional piece for the Hungaroring’s high downforce demands.

Mercedes driver George Russell was the first to switch to Pirelli’s soft tyres, going just two tenths quicker than Leclerc, which was swiftly bested by Verstappen. Russell was one of several drivers to lock up the fronts in Turn 1, which has been completely resurfaced for this year and was particularly bereft of grip.

Ferrari and Mercedes were two of several teams bringing Hungary-specific updates, largely through additional downforce options for the rear wing. But for McLaren, Budapest was marked on its development calendar for a wholesale floor revision which the Woking-based team hopes will bring its MCL40 closer to Mercedes and Ferrari in cornering performance.

McLaren handed Oscar Piastri’s car to its reserve driver, reigning F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli, who trialled McLaren’s own interpretation of Ferrari’s upside-down rear wing, which his race engineer reported was “working well”.

Aston Martin went much further still and introduced what amounted to an entirely new car, including a lighter chassis, all-new aero surfaces and a new rear suspension layout.

But the team’s first test session with its AMR26 B-spec suffered a major setback after 36 minutes when Lance Stroll’s rear suspension appeared to buckle on the exit of Turn 2, causing the Canadian to suffer a 360-degree spin, bringing out a red flag as he parked his car.

After the nine-minute interruption, Leclerc attempted to improve his own 1m19.075s benchmark, which the Monegasque driver had established right before the red flag. But Leclerc appeared to suffer a power unit or gearbox failure in the final sector, coasting into the pitlane with an ailing car.

Unusually, Leclerc’s benchmark remained untouched during the final 14-minute stretch of green-flag running. Verstappen, who complained his Red Bull RB22 felt like it was driving with a handbrake on, was second, his 1m19.559s almost five tenths down on Leclerc.

Hamilton was third ahead of the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, who shipped nine tenths on Leclerc. Russell took fifth ahead of Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

Fornaroli wasn’t the only young driver to fulfil one of the teams’ four compulsory FP1 rookie sessions. Frederik Vesti took over championship leader Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes to go seventh, followed by Nico Hulkenberg and Racing Bulls duo Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson who all combined to keep world champion Lando Norris out of the top 10.

Behind 16th-placed Fornaroli, Toyota protege Ryo Hirakawa was 17th in the Haas. Paul Aron took 19th in Franco Colapinto’s Alpine, while former IndyCar ace and Cadillac test driver Colton Herta got his latest taste of F1 machinery and took 20th.

Notwithstanding Stroll’s suspension failure, Aston Martin’s B-spec made a cautiously promising start in the hands of Fernando Alonso, who was entrenched in F1’s midfield with the 13th-fastest time, his 1m21.550s two and a half seconds behind the benchmark.

Following the session, Carlos Sainz was summoned to the stewards’ office for impeding Verstappen and allegedly driving erratically, much to the Dutchman’s chagrin.

F1 Hungarian GP – FP1 results

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– The Autosport.com Team