F1: Sainz Jr. tops opening practice in Hungary

Ferrari is expected to dominate the Hungary GP and they started off strong.

Carlos Sainz Jr. turned the fastest lap in opening practice for the Hungarian GP with a time of 1m18.750s in his #55 Ferrari.

Max Verstappen was 2nd quick for Red Bull 0.130s off the pace.

The track was getting faster as it rubbered in, so faster times to come in practice 2.

Charles Leclerc was 3rd in the #16 Ferrari, 0.289s behind his teammate.

“We haven’t changed our plans [for the weather]. I think there is much to come, Carlos is comfortable, he did a good lap, and I’m sure Charles can as well but as usual the fight is with the Red Bull,” said Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto.

Binotto continued to say that Leclerc went straight home after France to try and relax after a “difficult” debrief, as the Ferrari boss continued to emphasize his team just want to “turn the page” on what happened last weekend.

Lando Norris was 4th for McLaren, 0.549s behind while George Russell rounded out the top-5 for Mercedes, 0.872s behind and just in front of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull (who was balked on his fast lap my Mick Schumacher) and his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top-10.

There were no major incidents in the 6-minute session.

Will Sainz continue his strong run of form into second practice, or can the other front runners catch up? And what will everyone do strategy-wise with such a mixed weekend coming up in terms of weather? Plenty of questions.

Practice 1 Times