Hungarian Grand Prix FP3: Lando Norris tops, Ferrari vs McLaren in Qualifying, Mercedes improve
F1 NewsSaturday, 25 July 2026 at 13:30
Lando Norris topped the final practice session for the 2026 Hungarian Grand Pix as Ferrari seemed to drop back a bit while their rivals improved.
The reigning Formula 1 Champion was 0.117s ahead of compatriot Hamilton with a lap time of 1:17.939 making the best out of his upgraded McLaren MCL40.
Championship leader Kimi Antonello was third fastest, 0.129s off the pace, a clear improved for the Italian compared to Friday where he struggled for balance and rear grip.
Ferrari seemed to be the best car in the final sector where Hamilton, in particular, was able to pull off a decent advantage while Norris seemed to have an advantage in sectors 1 and 2.
The session proved tricky for the drivers with many suffering snaps and off-track limit moments which will make for an interesting Qualifying later on.
Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest in the sister Ferrari, 0.352s off the pace ahead of Oscar Piastri who was fifth, 0.147s behind the Monegasque.
Once again, George Russell struggled, and was sixth tenths off the benchmark in sixth as Max Verstappen, also not on form, was seventh in the Red Bull Racing, one tenth slower than the Briton.
Isack Hadjar was three tenths behind his teammate in eighth ahead of Liam Lawson who was ninth as Nico Hulkenberg was tenth.
As for the Aston Martin watch, Fernando Alonso was 17th fastest, 2.454s off the pace with Lance Stroll over half a second behind him in 18th.
Buildup towards FP3
Ferrari emerged as the team to beat after Friday's running in Budapest with Hamilton and Leclerc taking turns in topping the timing screens, the former posting the fastest time of the day.
And while the SF-26 was expected to perform well around the Hungaroring, the big gap to Ferrari's rivals was a bit surprising as drivers struggled with the dusty track's bumpiness and low grip conditions as the surface was breaking up, while the wind did not make life easier.
Mercedes were left perplexed with their lack of pace as both their cars were over one second off the pace, so they need to find answers before qualifying which is important in Hungary especially as their long runs were good which means nothing without a decent starting grid position.
Red Bull had their usual Friday looking for balance and performance with McLaren also up there with their upgraded MCL40.
Aston Martin will get another chance to run their upgraded AMR26 and collect more data and fine tune the setup with Qualifying later in the day delivering the first precise evaluation of performance gains.
So will Ferrari maintain their advantage? Will Mercedes turn things around? Where will Red Bull Racing and McLaren be? And what of Aston Martin?
FP3 Session Highlights
The session started with track temperatures rising to 51 degrees Celsius as air temperature was 24 degrees with clear dry conditions overall.
Franco Colapinto, in the repaired Alpine he binned in FP2, was the first to make his way out on track.
Other drivers remained patiently in their respective garages hoping other will get out and put some rubber down to make running more meaningful.
Franco Colapinto is our first driver to step out on track 🙌#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/n4cXBXG2Bt
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 25, 2026
Stroll, who missed out on FP2 and most of FP1 due to his suspension failing was the second driver to join Colapinto out on track.
Valtteri Bottas then followed in the Cadillac with Hulkenberg kicking off Audi's session as well, a little over ten minutes into the session.
Piastri was the first driver from the top teams to make his way out on track, 15 minutes into the session and several drivers started to follow as the session was genuinely on with some early runs on Softs.
Both Charles and Lewis are out on track
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 25, 2026
They slot into P2 and P3 respectively #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/X0IKpm0MNK
On the other hand, Arvid Lindblad's VCARB was up on the stands with a power unit issue. He managed to join in the final minutes of the session.
Hamilton soon reported that he had a visor tear-off stuck in his rear wing.
Then Sergio Perez brought out the Yellow flag which soon turned into a Red flag as his smoke was coming out of his rear brakes.
The Mexican radioed: "I lost the engine, I had a massive brake. It looks like the brakes are on fire on the back."
Replay showed his Cadillac slowing down and then snapping at the rear before grinding into a halt.
Here's the moment Checo's involvement in FP3 came to an end 👇#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/gKiwEB8EQf
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 25, 2026
The session was resumed with 34 minutes remaining on the clock as several driver queued up in the pitlane waiting for it to open.
Hadjar had a moment on the kerbs and radioed: "Ouch! That was tough on the floor."
He then reports: "The downshifts are horrific. Disgusting in Turns 1 and 2. Turn 12 as well."
Russell had a big lockup in Turn 1, a normal scene now in Hungary for several drivers...
Russell with a huge lock-up 😮
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 25, 2026
The bump in the track at Turn 1 is continuing to cause issues #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/aBg2fAUSm2
Antonelli, after posting the second fastest time, returned to the garage and asked his team to check the floor which he hit hard on the kerbs in Turn 4.
Drivers in the mean time were back in their pits, doing some tweaks on their cars before heading out once again, towards the final 15 minutes of the session for more performance runs on new Soft tyres.
Brand new boots for George 👀
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 25, 2026
Soft tyres the order of the day as we head into the closing stages of FP3 #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/sbKld0dJWT
Hadjar made a mistake in Turn 12 and radioed that his car was undriveable. Piastri on the other hand made a mistake in the chicane.
Leclerc then suffered one of those massive lockups in Turn 1 and took to the run-off area. Hamilton also had an off moment at Turn 6 and aborted his lap.
At that point, it appeared as if it would be Ferrari vs McLaren going into Qualifying with Mercedes hovering around with Antonelli. Red Bull Racing are not looking good.
The session was concluded with practice starts.
Hungarian Grand Prix FP3 Classification
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