Lando Norris could be set for a big weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix after clocking the quickest lap time in the second practice session on Friday. The McLaren star defended his style of driving ahead of the weekend following claims he wasn’t ruthless enough to clinch race victories and topple Max Verstappen at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Norris entered the weekend 84 points behind leader Verstappen in the overall pecking order and will be looking to close the gap with his second win of the year on Sunday.
But Verstappen was second quickest in FP2 and will be desperate to perform at his top level during the qualifying session.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last time out, clocked the seventh fastest time in FP2, while Mercedes team-mate George Russell was fifth quickest.
The final practice session gets underway at 11.30am BST, with qualifying starting at 3pm.
And Express Sport will bring you all the latest news and breaking stories throughout the day. So stick around and follow our live blog below.
10 mins ago07: 56 Tom Parsons
McLaren chief dismisses Brundle claimMcLaren chief Andrea Stella has dismissed claims by Martin Brundle that the Woking team would have had “uncomfortable meetings” after the British Grand Prix.
McLaren missed out on race victory, despite the fact Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were well-placed to taste glory.
After being taken to task by Sky Sports reporter Brundle, who also said that McLaren “could have, should have won” at Silverstone, Stella replied: “I’m not sure what you mean with ‘uncomfortable’.
“That’s not how you run a Formula 1 team. A Formula 1 team is not run by emotions – otherwise it would collapse and implode pretty rapidly, no? Because Formula 1 is a rollercoaster and now the rollercoaster has more and more goals in a season, because it’s 24 [races] – so think if you run 24 events like that.”
McLaren chief Andrea Stella has dismissed claims by Martin Brundle (Image: GETTY)
18 mins ago07: 48 Tom Parsons
Hamilton ‘struggles’ laid bareLewis Hamilton’s ‘struggles’ have been laid bare by Andrew Shovlin, with the Mercedes trackside engineering director explaining that qualifying sessions on Saturdays have proven to be ‘tough’.
“Lewis hasn’t disguised the fact that Saturdays were his tough day,” Shovlin said. “He’s struggled with this whole generation of car, really, not suiting his style. He’s been working on how he drives.
“But we have had a huge amount of work trying to get the car to be quicker – it just hasn’t been quick enough – but also with a handling balance that the drivers can actually attack the lap on Saturday. So we’ve made progress.
“Recently, George [Russell] has out-qualified Lewis by some fairly fine margins. So it’s great for the team that Lewis is back up there and he’ll be pushing on. We’ll keep working on that, and I’m sure that we’ll hopefully see some more Lewis pole positions as well.”
23 mins ago07: 43 Tom Parsons
Horner demands Perez answersRed Bull chief Christian Horner has admitted he demanded answers from out-of-form driver Sergio Perez during a chat in his kitchen. Perez signed a new contract earlier this year but is under pressure ahead of the summer break after falling down the standings.
“We have a really open relationship,” Horner told Sky F1. “I sat down with him in the kitchen in my house and said, ‘Come on, what’s going on? Is it something else?’
“And he was like ‘No, I think I’m just overthinking things a bit too much.’
“I think almost ignoring what’s going on on the other side of the garage [with Max Verstappen] will do him a favour, which is the approach that he’s taking now, just focusing on his own performance.”
24 mins ago07: 42 Tom Parsons
Good morning!Good morning and welcome to the Express Sport F1 blog ahead of tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
The drivers got a taste of the circuit in their two practice sessions yesterday and will be looking to put their final tweaks into action in FP3 later ahead of qualifying at 3pm BST. Stick around for all the latest news throughout the day.
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