McLaren’s Lando Norris beat Red Bull’s championship leading driver Max Verstappen by just under quarter of a second in the second free practice session for this weekend’s 2024 FIA Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix, as Charles Leclerc crashed and brought out the red flags.

The early running in the session was made by Sergio Pérez, with the Mexican jumping to the top of the timesheet with a Medium tyres lap of 1:18.568. The Red Bull driver’s time was good enough to keep him at the top of the pile for the opening half of the session, two tenths clear of Russell with Lewis Hamilton in third. 

Verstappen, meanwhile, slotted into fourth place with a lap of 1:19.213 but the Dutchman was unhappy with his car, reporting that his brakes were “not biting”. He returned to Red Bull garage for car adjustments and when he reappeared on track his second flyer of 1:18.724 vaulted him to P2, just behind his team-mate. 

The session was then red-flagged when Leclerc crashed in Turn 4. The Ferrari driver took too much kerb on exit and his Ferrari swapped ends before spinning across the track where he hit barriers hard with the left side of the car. The red flags were flown and with the barriers requiring attention a 15-minute delay followed. 

The session resumed just after the halfway mark and the field immediately set about qualifying simulations on Soft tyres. 

Mercedes’ George Russell took P1 with a lap of 1:18.294 but Norris then moved substantially clear with a lap of 1:17.788. Verstappen got closest to the McLaren driver with a lap of 1:18.031, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz taking third place. 

Perez finished fourth behind Sainz and Verstappen, with Russell holding to P5. Kevin Magnussen took an impressive sixth place, just 0.021s shy of the Mercedes man, while Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh and eighth respectively. Ninth place went to Williams’ Alex Albon and the top 10 was completed by Aston Martins’ Fernando Alonso. 

2024 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:17.788 24 202.751
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:18.031 0.243 20 202.119
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:18.185 0.397 23 201.721
4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:18.255 0.467 23 201.541
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:18.294 0.506 20 201.440
6 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:18.315 0.527 24 201.386
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.363 0.575 20 201.263
8 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:18.371 0.583 20 201.242
9 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:18.514 0.726 22 200.876
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.519 0.731 23 200.863
11 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.586 0.798 25 200.692
12 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:18.611 0.823 21 200.628
13 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.618 0.830 21 200.610
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:18.754 0.966 25 200.264
15 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:18.791 1.003 25 200.170
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:18.888 1.100 24 199.923
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:19.179 1.391 25 199.189
18 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:19.286 1.498 8 198.920
19 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:19.606 1.818 13 198.120
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:20.067 2.279 25 196.980