Leclerc tops second free practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc topped the second free practice session of the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary.

Lando Norris finished in second position, 0.217 seconds slower than the Scuderia Ferrari driver. Carlos Sainz finished in third position at the end of the session.

The second free practice session at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest started under clear skies with air temperatures at 33 degrees C and track temperature at 47 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.

With rain expected on Saturday, the teams wanted to use the Friday practice sessions to the maximum. The drivers were out on the track when the lights went green and Valtteri Bottas set the first timed lap of 1m21.452s.

Leclerc went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m18.911s on the medium compound tyres. Sainz then slotted into second position ahead of Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton on his first run on the medium compound tyres was 1.9 seconds slower than Leclerc and in tenth position. Sergio Pérez who had a difficult opening session was in better form and was in fourth position. Sebastian Vettel also was having a better session as he slotted into fifth position.

With fourty minutes to go, the drivers started their qualification simulations on the soft compound tyres. Alexander Albon locked up heavily and was turned the wrong way around at Turn 1. Albon was able to return to the pits but he had flat-spotted his tyres badly.

George Russell on his soft tyres run went to fourth position. Lando Norris slotted into first position with a good lap on the soft compound tyres.

Leclerc soon regained the top spot with a lap time of 1m18.445s. Fernando Alonso went third on the time charts. Sainz then took third position behind Norris and Ricciardo took fourth position. The McLaren F1 team seem to have the pace so far this weekend.

Verstappen and Pérez could slot into fourth and eighth positions only on their soft compound tyre runs.

With twenty minutes to go, the drivers started their race simulations. Verstappen complained about the balance of his car. Hamilton went off at Turn 4 and told the pit wall that his car was unstable.

Leclerc pitted with some mechanical issues but was quickly back on the track. The session ended with the Ferrari driver on top.

Norris retained his second position, 0.217 seconds slower than Leclerc. Sainz was in third position ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo.

The two veteran drivers, Alonso and Vettel, were in sixth and seventh positions. Russell, Bottas and Pérez rounded off the top ten positions at the end of the session.

As expected Ferrari have the one lap and race pace at this track with slow speed corners and short straights.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing team with its superior straight line speed blunted at this track has played second fiddle in the Friday sessions.

The McLaren F1 team are surprisingly in the mix with the top two teams. The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team were off the pace and had tyre warm up issues on a very hot day. Alonso has put in some rapid laps and looks to be in good form.

If qualification is going to be wet, it will lead to a mixed starting grid. Grid position is all-important on this hard to overtake Hungaroring circuit.

2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Second Practice (FP2) Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:18.445		27
2	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:18.662	+0.217s	29
3	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:18.676	+0.231s	29
4	1	Max Verstappen	NED	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:18.728	+0.283s	26
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1:18.872	+0.427s	27
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:19.049	+0.604s	30
7	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:19.253	+0.808s	31
8	63	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:19.355	+0.910s	28
9	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:19.397	+0.952s	28
10	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:19.411	+0.966s	30
11	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:19.547	+1.102s	23
12	24	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:19.605	+1.160s	26
13	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:19.614	+1.169s	27
14	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:19.702	+1.257s	30
15	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:19.730	+1.285s	28
16	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:19.818	+1.373s	29
17	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas F1 Team	1:19.985	+1.540s	28
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:20.488	+2.043s	30
19	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:20.521	+2.076s	31
20	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams Racing	1:20.615	+2.170s	20