Ferrari headed the timesheets in both Friday sessions at the Hungaroring, and still nobody in red seemed sure what to make of it. Lewis Hamilton clocked the quickest lap of FP2, a 1m18.729s that beat Charles Leclerc by 0.148s, while Lando Norris trailed in third for McLaren, almost half a second back. Leclerc had set the pace in the morning. Two Ferraris on top, and a strangely wary garage.
Strangest of all was Hamilton, who ended the day fastest and then took his own car apart. "Today was not a good day for me, a big, big struggle with the balance of the car," he told Formula 1's website, describing a machine that was "just inconsistent, very, very inconsistent balance from corner to corner." He rated Leclerc the quicker Ferrari by some margin: "Charles has been quick today - he's been generally happy with the car. For me I'm quite far off, so I highly doubt it," he said of his own hopes.
Ferrari's team-issued notes were sunnier, quoting Hamilton calling it "a solid day overall" despite gusty wind and a bumpy surface. That the driver's unfiltered verdict and the press release barely matched said plenty about how seriously to take a Friday.
Leclerc, more content, still kept a lid on it. "The feeling with the car has been pretty positive so far," he said, though he expected a scrap for pole: "For now it looks like it's our position, and realistically I think it's going to be very tough to go and beat the McLarens tomorrow." Friday form, he warned, rarely survives to Saturday: "It's always very variable from Friday to Saturday, so I think we'll have to see tomorrow when we come to the track."
Frederic Vasseur refused to be drawn. "So far, so good, but it's not on Friday we are doing the pole, even less that you win the race," the Ferrari boss said. "It's good to start the weekend like this, but let's see tomorrow - it will be another story."
Their rivals were less coy. George Russell, unhappy in a Mercedes that never came alive, told Sky Sports the red cars had confirmed his worst suspicions. "They look very, very strong," he said. "Ferrari are a good step ahead of everyone right now." His own outing was one to forget: "Our single lap didn't look great. The long run looked more competitive, but what we potentially feared with Ferrari seemed to be the case. I think for both Kimi and I the car was far from great, to be honest."
Kimi Antonelli, who leads the championship, could manage only 13th after botching a qualifying simulation - proof of Mercedes' untidy Friday. Earlier, Alpine's Franco Colapinto had thrown his car into the final-corner barriers, triggering red flags as drivers lined up for soft-tyre runs.
Ferrari, then, own the fastest lap and none of the usual swagger that goes with it. With McLaren in range and the wind set to turn again, the verdict on Budapest waits for qualifying.
