Nicholas Latifi put in a late lap in improving conditions to top the timesheet in final practice for the Hungarian GP, a session in which Sebastian Vettel brought out the red flags.
The Formula 1 drivers arrived at the Hungaroring on Saturday with “fingers crossed” that there’d be some running, starting with the weekend’s final practice session.
Torrential rain in the hour prior to FP3 had everyone questioning that but no sooner had the rain eased than the track sweepers were out clearing the standing water.
They did such a good job that it took all of four minutes for the first car, Charles Leclerc, to venture out of the pits. A 1:43.3 for the Ferrari driver as one by one the rest of the field joined the action.
But not Lewis Hamilton, a Mercedes mechanics with a laser scanner checking the floor of his W13 – apparently an FIA routine check.
“What this contraption is…I have not a scooby-doo…”😅#imanelectricianletmetellyouwhatthisdudeisdoing pic.twitter.com/LbrZ97A3gQ
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Such was the drainage of the track that Fernando Alonso was out on the inters after 10 minutes, but sliding quite a bit. Leclerc told Ferrari he agreed with the Alpine driver’s tyre choice as there was not much aquaplanning. Sainz, though, was worried it was “not worth the risk”.
As the rain came down harder, Leclerc pitted having told Ferrari that he did “not know if it’s worth to go out again. I mean yes I can go quite a bit quicker but on the other hand I am not sure we want.”
He was 0.9s up on Sainz with Vettel third ahead of Lance Stroll, Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo. Zhou Guanyu went flying off the track, Alex Albon reported aquaplaning and Mick Schumacher told Haas there was “a lot of standing water”, and then jumped up to third place.
Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were the only three not to do a single lap in the first half of the session.
What the driver sees (or doesn’t!) 😮#HungarianGP @NicholasLatifi pic.twitter.com/8eQ1yuTzQk
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As the rain again eased in the second half, Hamilton and Red Bull joined the action, although the Mercedes driver and his team-mate were not having a good time as they struggled to get temperature into their tyres, both drivers not happy with the lack of grip. Russell had a close encounter with a barrier, telling Mercedes his tyres are “so cold”.
Meanwhile Alonso’s car handling skills were on display as he pulled off one…
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