F1 Hungarian GP: Latifi tops practice session for first time
30th July 2022Williams’ Nicholas Latifi topped a practice session for the first time in his Formula 1 career as the Canadian set the quickest lap time in changeable conditions.
How final practice unfolded…
Prior to the final practice session, the rain had arrived and poured down onto the Hungarian Hungaroring. When Free Practice Three came around, the safety car was sent out to do reconnaissance laps on the wet track.
Despite to poor weather, the session still went ahead as planned. However, no one went straight out onto the circuit. After three minutes, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the first driver to venture out onto the soaking Hungarian circuit equipped with the blue-ringed full wet tyres, ahead of his Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz.
After 10 minutes, 15 drivers were out on the track and started to clear away the standing water. 14 drivers were on the full-wet tyres but only Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was on the green-ringed Intermediate tyres.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton and George Russel and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi were the only drivers yet to venture onto the circuit.
After the 15 minute mark, Alonso popped back into the pit lane to swap over his inters for the full-wet tyres as the rain had gotten worse. At this stage, Leclerc topped the timing board with a 1:43.364, nearly a second quicker than his teammate. However, the Monegasque’s time was over two-seconds faster than Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, in P3.
As FP3 reached its halfway mark, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton ventured out onto the circuit for the first time in the session. After his first initial run, Hamilton could only manage P17 which was 4.6 seconds slower than Leclerc’s quickest time.
Only Verstappen and Perez were the only drivers who hadn’t went out on track to set a lap time.
However, with less than 20 minutes left on the clock, both Perez and Verstappen finally came out of their respective garages to get a lap time under their belt – on the intermediates.
As the track conditions had improved, due to the lack of rain, most of the field ventured out onto the Hungaroring with the intermediates fastened to their cars.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, Leclerc almost binned it into the barrier – on the exit of turn three, as his car lost rear grip and spun around. Fortunately, the Monegasque was able quickly regain control of his car to keep the car on the track, and out of the barrier.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel found himself in the barrier, on the exit of turn 10, as the outgoing German lost rear-tyre grip. When the German driver lost control of his AMR22, he couldn’t regain control before he entered the gravel trap. As a result, his car skipped across the gravel and collided with the barrier.
As a result, the session was red flagged with nine minutes left. Four minutes remained on the clock when the session got back underway, after the track marshal’s cleared away the stranded Aston Martin.
As the track conditions improved, signifcantly, in the dying embers, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi topped the final practice session for the first time in his F1 career. Leclerc finished P2 ahead of Williams’ Alexander Albon.
Top three:
- Nicholas Latifi, Williams
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Alexander Albon, Williams
That’s it for the article: F1 Hungarian GP: Latifi tops practice session for first time! Who do you think has the edge ahead of qualifying, if the session goes ahead as planned? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
