F1 Hungary GP: Hamilton fastest in FP3 ahead of Red Bull duo

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton went fastest in final practice ahead of the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez who finish second and third.

How the third and final practice session unfolded…

As the pit exit light went green for the final practice session, the field of drivers slowly began to filter out onto the circuit.

After the first banker laps were put in, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went to the top of the timing boards with a 1:18.478, eight-hundredths of a second ahead of, teammate, Sergio Perez who was second and one second faster than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, in third.

Verstappen remained on top of the timing boards with his medium tyre run, as Perez was demoted down to third after Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Gunayu popped up into second place, six-hundredths of a second behind Verstappen.

However, both Guanyu and Perez fell down one position, in third and fourth respectively, as Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas popped up just behind Verstappen with a lap time which was one-hundredths of a second slower than the Dutchman.

It was estimated that there was a head-wind down into the opening corner of the Hungaroring, as such it turned into a tail-wind down into the left-hander of turn two. Due to the change of direction in the win, it caught a few drivers out. One driver was Verstappen who complained over his team radio that there was something ‘weird’ with the rear end of his RB19.

With 20 minutes left on the clock, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso looked to be comfortable in his car as a result he went to the top of the timing boards with the soft tyres. Five minutes later, McLaren’s Lando Norris soon jumped to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:18.082, on the medium tyres.

As the teams and drivers used more and more of their trailed allocation, which is being tested this weekend, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton jumped to the top of the timing boards with a 1:17.811, on the soft tyres with just over 10 minutes to go.

He was closely followed by Verstappen who moved up to second ahead of Norris who dropped to third fastest. Despite a fresh soft tyre run from the reigning champion, the Dutch driver was still two-tenths behind the seven-time world champion.

When the chequered flag fell on practice, the top two positions remained unchanged with Hamilton on top ahead of Verstappen. However, Perez moved up to third ahead of Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg (fourth) and Norris (fifth).

Mercedes’ George Russell led the remaining drivers inside the top 10, ahead of the Ferrari duo of Leclerc (seventh) and Sainz (eighth) as Alonso and Bottas completed the top 10 in ninth and 10th respectively.

That’s all for the article; F1 Hungary GP: Hamilton fastest in FP3 ahead of Red Bull duo!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• F1 Hungary GP: Leclerc fastest in behaved FP2 ahead of Norris and Gasly
• F1 Hungarian GP: Russell fastest in FP1 as Perez crashes early on
• Nyck de Vries breaks silence on Instagram following Alpha Tauri departure
• Three teams rumoured to have breached 2022 Cost Cap regulations
• Nicholas Latifi to study MBA after F1 exit
• F1 Hungarian Grand Prix: Ricciardo returns, Red Bull record and fight for second
• Nyck de Vries sacking: Was it too early for Alpha Tauri to let him go

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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.

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.