The weekend in Hungary has officially started. FP1 featured five teams swapping out a regular driver for this initial practice hour.
Rookies and Reserves Hit the Track:
- Leonardo Fornaroli (McLaren): The 2025 F2 champion and McLaren reserve made his second career FP1 appearance. He stepped in for Oscar Piastri at the Hungaroring following his debut in Lando Norris’ car at Barcelona. He ended the session 16th.
- Fred Vesti (Mercedes): The IMSA racer stepped in for Kimi Antonelli for the session. The driver put in a strong showing to finish 7th.
- Paul Aron (Alpine): After previous outings on loan to Audi earlier this year, the Estonian Alpine reserve made his first appearance in team colors for 2026, taking over Franco Colapinto’s seat for the opening hour, ultimately wrapping the session 19th.
- Ryo Hirakawa (Haas): The Toyota WEC racer and Haas test driver logs his second FP1 appearance of the 2026 season, taking over Ollie Bearman’s car.
- Colton Herta (Cadillac): Following his debut in Spain, the IndyCar star and F2 competitor returns for his second-ever F1 practice session, stepping into Valtteri Bottas’ MAC-26 and ending up 20th.
Slick Track and Early Struggles:
Being the beginning of the weekend, the circuit offered very little grip. Even though Formula 2 ran earlier, there is not much rubber laid down yet. Thus, plenty of sliding was seen, particularly on the rear ends of cars as drivers struggled to find traction.
Mercedes used this session, trying to find the right balance on the medium compound before trying out the softs, while also carefully verifying the brakes given the high speeds carried onto the straights. Speaking about George Russell and energy deployment issues, Bradley Lord explained that multiple elements contributed to the incident. However, the issue in Spa was primarily software-based. The team has since identified and corrected it, meaning performance levels should return to normal this weekend. After the session, he acknowledged that the team was not yet where they wanted to be, but they will keep working on it.
Over at Audi, the car, who is known to have a certain power unit deficit, seemed to be more appropriate for the Budapest track. Both drivers finished, respectively, 6th and 8th in this FP1 session.
Max Verstappen kicked off his feedback early with complaints over a rough downshift. He also added that the car felt like it was jumping. He was also noted to be driving erratically, an issue that was to be reviewed after the session.
Lewis Hamilton also reported through the session that his car’s performance was quite poor overall, notably noting excessive stiffness.
Aston Martin Upgrades Overshadowed by Stroll’s Halt
Aston Martin drew intense scrutiny in the paddock with a massive development package featuring 16 declared new components. Changes of such size bring a mountain of new testing and correlation challenges. However, bringing the updates to Budapest is a calculated gamble, as the track’s diverse corner types offer vital telemetry, though the team is still awaiting an engine upgrade, meaning immediate leaps in competitiveness are far from guaranteed.
The first major drama of the morning arrived when Lance Stroll ground to a halt shortly after Turn 3, quickly triggering a red flag. A sudden suspension failure mid-straight sent Stroll spinning heavily, though he miraculously avoided barrier contact. The failure immediately cast a spotlight over Fernando Alonso‘s side of the garage as the team scrambled to ensure the issue could not be repeated.
The session resumed with fifteen minutes remaining on the clock, with Esteban Ocon leading the pack back out onto the track.
Carlos Sainz brought out a brief yellow flag after locking up his tires, though he managed to get moving again. Additionally, officials noted him for driving erratically through Turn 9.
Drama struck Ferrari with just eight minutes left on the clock when Charles Leclerc reported over the radio that “something broke.” He managed to bring his car back to the pit lane, even though he fell short of his own garage. His earlier lap time held strong as he managed to finish the session sitting at the top of the leaderboard.
The opening practice hour concluded with the customary practice start on the grid.