Latifi leads Leclerc and Albon in wet third practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Nicholas Latifi topped the wet third free practice session of the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary.

Charles Leclerc finished in second position, 0.661 seconds slower than the Williams Racing team driver. Alexander Albon finished in third position at the end of the session.

The Williams Racing team surprised the paddock as both their drivers were in the top three positions on the time charts in the wet session.

The third free practice session at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest started under wet conditions with air temperature at 20 degrees C and track temperature at 28 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4), the middle range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

The rain came down before the session got underway and the track had standing water. The session started on time and the two Scuderia Ferrari drivers, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were the first drivers on the track on full wet tyres.

As other drivers ventured out, Fernando Alonso came out on the intermediate tyres. Sainz went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m45.569s.

Leclerc displaced him at the top with a lap time of 1m43.364s. The order was Leclerc, Sainz, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll and Alonso.

With fifteen minutes to go, it stated raining heavily again. As the conditions got more treacherous the drivers retreated into the garages.

With thirty minutes to go, Lewis Hamilton finally ventured out. Hamilton went seventeenth fastest on his first timed lap.

The drivers were finding it difficult to find any grip on the track and there were many excursions off the track.

With fifteen minutes to go, the drivers ventured out on the intermediate tyres. Leclerc spun exiting Turn 3 and managed to keep the car out of the barriers.

There was more action as Alonso went second fastest and Max Verstappen went eighth fastest as drivers set improved lap times.

Vettel spun and crashed into the barriers at Turn 10 and damaged his rear-wing. The red flags came out and the session was stopped.

The session resumed and first Verstappen and then Leclerc went to the top of the time charts.

In the dying minutes of the session, Nicholas Latifi with a lap time of 1m41.480s slotted into first position.

The session ended with Latifi leading Leclerc, Albon, Verstappen, George Russell, Alonso, Sainz, Lando Norris, Vettel and Kevin Magnussen. If the rain stays away from the track in the two hours before qualification starts, the hot conditions will dry the track. It could be mixed conditions for qualification and the last driver across the line could seize pole position.

2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Third Free Practice Results: