During the final practice session for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren showcased impressive speed, with Lando Norris leading a team 1-2 finish. Norris topped the timesheet with a lap of 1:16.098, narrowly beating his teammate Oscar Piastri by just 0.044 seconds.
The session started slowly, with Red Bull’s drivers initially having the track to themselves. Max Verstappen set the early pace on hard tires, gradually improving his time to 1:17.938. However, as other teams joined the fray, the leaderboard began to shift rapidly.
McLaren’s performance stood out, with Norris setting a blistering pace on soft tires. His time of 1:16.931 initially put him half a second clear of the field. Mercedes briefly challenged McLaren’s dominance when George Russell posted a 1:16.564, but Norris responded with his session-leading lap.
Verstappen, switching to soft tires late in the session, could only manage third place with a 1:16.379, 0.281 seconds behind Norris. His teammate Sergio Pérez struggled more, finishing 13th overall. Russell secured fourth place for Mercedes, followed by Carlos Sainz of Ferrari in fifth.
Daniel Ricciardo impressed in the RB (formerly AlphaTauri) car, finishing sixth, while Alex Albon continued to show Williams’ improved form with seventh place.
The final practice results are quite intriguing as McLaren has been looking forward to challenging Red Bull’s usual dominance. The cooler track conditions compared to Friday’s practice seemed to favor some teams and this could potentially shuffle the competitive order for the race weekend.
