Lewis Hamilton led the final hour of practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix but the three fastest cars were covered by less than a tenth of a second.
The last flying lap from the Mercedes driver knocked Max Verstappen off the top of the times by just 13 thousandths of a second. Verstappen in turn had relegated Sebastian Vettel by 69 thousandths.The trio’s team mates followed them, led by Valtteri Bottas, who lapped within three-tenths of a second of Hamilton. Charles Leclerc was close behind, but sixth-place Pierre Gasly was over half a second slower than Verstappen.
Lando Norris came close to beating Gasly to sixth – the pair were separated by less than a tenth of a second following a superb effort by the McLaren driver. Continuing the narrow gaps around the tight Hungaroring, Kimi Raikkonen beat Carlos Sainz Jnr to eighth place by a thousandth of a second. Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10.
The start of the session was delayed by 10 minutes as marshals worked to clean up an oil spill at turn four from the Formula 2 race prior to the session. The session began with large quantities of cement dust covering the exit of the corner, which produced giant plumes of smoke as the drivers passes through it.
Williams enjoyed their most competitive showing of the season so far. George Russell put his car 18th, ahead of Lance Stroll’s Racing Point and within a tenth of a second of Alexander Albon’s Toro Rosso.
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| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’16.084 | 21 | |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’16.097 | 0.013 | 16 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’16.166 | 0.082 | 18 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’16.355 | 0.271 | 19 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’16.392 | 0.308 | 18 |
| 6 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull-Honda | 1’16.684 | 0.600 | 19 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’16.774 | 0.690 | 20 |
| 8 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’17.216 | 1.132 | 22 |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.217 | 1.133 | 23 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’17.230 | 1.146 | 17 |
| 11 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’17.293 | 1.209 | 21 |
| 12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’17.432 | 1.348 | 21 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’17.667 | 1.583 | 19 |
| 14 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’17.670 | 1.586 | 17 |
| 15 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’17.929 | 1.845 | 22 |
| 16 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’17.962 | 1.878 | 19 |
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’18.024 | 1.940 | 19 |
| 18 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.072 | 1.988 | 23 |
| 19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’18.534 | 2.450 | 20 |
| 20 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.709 | 2.625 | 26 |
Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’16.084
+0.013 Max Verstappen – 1’16.097
+0.082 Sebastian Vettel – 1’16.166
+0.271 Valtteri Bottas – 1’16.355
+0.308 Charles Leclerc – 1’16.392
+0.600 Pierre Gasly – 1’16.684
+0.690 Lando Norris – 1’16.774
+1.132 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’17.216
+1.133 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’17.217
+1.146 Kevin Magnussen – 1’17.230
+1.209 Romain Grosjean – 1’17.293
+1.348 Daniil Kvyat – 1’17.432
+1.583 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’17.667
+1.586 Sergio Perez – 1’17.670
+1.845 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’17.929
+1.878 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’17.962
+1.940 Alexander Albon – 1’18.024
+1.988 George Russell – 1’18.072
+2.450 Lance Stroll – 1’18.534
+2.625 Robert Kubica – 1’18.709
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’17.233 | 1’17.995 | 1’16.084 | -1.149 | 77 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.398 | 1’17.909 | 1’16.097 | -1.301 | 56 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’17.399 | 1’19.254 | 1’16.166 | -1.233 | 67 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’18.184 | 1’16.355 | -1.829 | 39 | |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’18.188 | 1’18.852 | 1’16.392 | -1.796 | 68 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.682 | 1’17.854 | 1’16.684 | -0.998 | 60 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’18.531 | 1’20.401 | 1’16.774 | -1.757 | 60 |
| 8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’18.787 | 1’18.682 | 1’17.216 | -1.466 | 79 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’18.702 | 1’19.398 | 1’17.217 | -1.485 | 68 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’17.942 | 1’19.178 | 1’17.230 | -0.712 | 69 |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.973 | 1’19.149 | 1’17.293 | -1.68 | 72 |
| 12 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’18.982 | 1’18.957 | 1’17.432 | -1.525 | 76 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’18.417 | 1’18.892 | 1’17.667 | -0.75 | 64 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’19.325 | 1’19.721 | 1’17.670 | -1.655 | 50 |
| 15 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’19.488 | 1’18.909 | 1’17.929 | -0.98 | 71 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’18.894 | 1’18.597 | 1’17.962 | -0.635 | 62 |
| 17 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’19.223 | 1’18.024 | -1.199 | 49 | |
| 18 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’19.649 | 1’19.889 | 1’18.072 | -1.577 | 70 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’19.722 | 1’19.774 | 1’18.534 | -1.188 | 68 |
| 20 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’20.322 | 1’20.439 | 1’18.709 | -1.613 | 71 |
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2019 Hungarian Grand Prix
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- Hamilton 10 wins away from Schumacher’s all-time victory record
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
3rd August 2019, 12:11
Nice to see the top 3 aren’t just closely spaced, they’re from three teams.
It would be nice if the same closeness is seen in Q3, although I’ve been bitten far too often by misleading FP3 performances to hold my breath!
dan
3rd August 2019, 12:13
Great time by Norris, who i genuinely believe is the quicker Mclaren driver already. Sainz will win this years battle but he wont win the war. Sainz will have a carear like Hulkenberg unfortunatley. Sainz was unlucky Max was born he would be in the RedBull by now. He just aint looked impressive when compared to Norris on pace, he also was alot slower than Hulkenberg aswell. You need to be making rookies look like rookies and Sainz has not atall, it is way too close and often Norris looks quicker already.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
3rd August 2019, 12:28
Don’t compare sainz jr to hulk. Hulk destroyed sainz jr, not only in Q but race pace, hulk has had the measure of ricciardo but he has choked, beaten in quali and ruins his best chances and has worse reliability.
Incredible! what a miracle, hamilton made a pretty poor last fp3 lap yet was quickest, ominous.
David (@davidjwest)
3rd August 2019, 12:23
Are Ferrari going towards a qualifying setup I wonder?
I expect Max will struggle a bit vs Mercedes and Ferrari’s “party-modes” but will mean a good race as he tries to overtake them on a track where overtaking is hard.
Hugh (@hugh11)
3rd August 2019, 12:32
Norris though. Damn.
bukester (@bukester)
3rd August 2019, 12:42
How can they allow the session to start with all of that concrete dust on the track?
Moi
3rd August 2019, 12:57
Williams seem to be closing the gap. Well Russel at least.
Only Facts!
3rd August 2019, 13:16
Imagine what’s going on at Renault’s headquarters right now. Almost 1 Full Second behind the best MCL, and 0.5sec behind the worst MCL. Maybe they’re not dialing It up due to the failure last week, but that’s too big of a gap for F1.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
3rd August 2019, 14:01
and RIC only a tenth faster then Russel