Norris sets the pace ahead of Hamilton in final Hungary practice

BUDAPEST: Lando Norris put McLaren on top in the third and final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday, finishing fastest ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton after a closely fought hour at the Hungaroring.

Norris posted a best lap of one minute 17.939 seconds, beating Hamilton by 0.117 seconds. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, who leads the championship, was third, 0.129 seconds off the pace. The session marked the first time this season that a Mercedes did not finish fastest in the final practice before qualifying, underlining how tight the competition has been this weekend.

Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari, followed by Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren and George Russell in the other Mercedes. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar came next, with Liam Lawson ninth for Racing Bulls and Nico Hulkenberg 10th for Audi.

The two Aston Martins, running the team’s updated B-spec cars, ended well down the order in 17th and 18th places, with Fernando Alonso narrowly ahead of Lance Stroll. Stroll’s car had been repaired after a suspension problem on Friday.

Hot conditions and early disruption

The session took place in hot and dusty conditions after overnight work on the track was carried out in response to drivers’ concerns about the bumpy surface. Franco Colapinto was first out for Alpine, with the track temperature reported at 52 degrees Celsius.

Running was limited in the opening phase. After 15 minutes, only Valtteri Bottas, Hulkenberg and Stroll had joined Colapinto on track before Piastri and Leclerc headed out. Alpine rookie Arvid Lindblad remained in the garage until the closing stages because of a power-unit issue found after the team carried out curfew-breaking repairs on Colapinto’s car following his Friday crash.

The session was then stopped after 21 minutes when Sergio Perez’s Cadillac came to a halt at turn two, which was renamed Hamilton this year. His brakes caught fire after overheating, bringing out a red flag. Action resumed after a five-minute interruption.

Late improvement reshuffles order

Once the session restarted, Antonelli and Verstappen joined in. With 35 minutes gone, Antonelli was down in 20th after his best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, but he improved sharply after returning to the pits and then climbing to second before taking top spot.

Norris answered with a quicker lap of his own, before Ferrari sent both Hamilton and Leclerc out on fresh soft tyres in the final 10 minutes. Hamilton briefly moved to the top as Ferrari showed strong speed, but Norris responded with the first lap of the session below one minute 18 seconds to regain first place by a tenth.

Qualifying later on Saturday is set up as a tight contest after McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all showed competitive pace in the final tune-up for Sunday’s race.