Ferrari ended Friday on top at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc taking first and second in second practice as Mercedes finished the day fifth and 13th fastest. George Russell said the team’s concerns about Ferrari’s pace had already started to look justified.
The result matters because the Hungaroring is a tight, twisty track where cornering performance tends to count for a great deal. Ferrari have not often been the benchmark on a conventional Friday this season, but on this occasion they looked comfortable from the start and strong again when the second session mattered most.
Russell did not hide Mercedes’ frustration. “It was quite a strange day out there I think for everybody,” he said, adding that the single-lap pace “didn’t look great” and that what the team had feared with Ferrari “seemed to be the case”.
He was even more direct when assessing the gap. “We’ve got work to do as a team. Ferrari are a good step ahead of everyone right now,” Russell said, while also noting that both he and Kimi Antonelli felt the car was “far from great”.
Why Ferrari looked so strong at the Hungaroring
The Friday timesheet suggested that Ferrari’s package may suit the track better than Mercedes’ current car. That is not a surprise in itself, given how much the Hungaroring rewards stability through medium-speed corners and clean rotation, but it is still a notable step for a team that had already won the season’s other two grands prix before Hungary.
Charles Leclerc struck a more measured tone after topping the session. “It was a relatively strong day,” he said. “From the beginning I felt quite good with the car and performance seemed to be good straight away.”
That confidence is encouraging for Ferrari, but Leclerc also warned that Friday pace is never the final word. “The weekend is still long,” he said, pointing out that teams often make a “jump of performance” between Friday and Saturday.
Mercedes still have work to do
For Mercedes, the issue was not just the headline gap to Ferrari. McLaren and Red Bull also ended the day ahead of them on the timesheet, which leaves Russell and Antonelli with a clear amount of ground to recover before qualifying. Russell also said the wind made the day difficult to read, with changing conditions likely to shift the balance again.
That keeps Saturday important. Hungarian GP Qualifying is scheduled for 3pm on Saturday, live on Sky Sports F1, with the race set for 2pm on Sunday. If Ferrari can carry even a portion of this pace into qualifying, they will head into the weekend as the team everyone else has to catch.
