Despite dire weather conditions, both free practices continued and gave the drivers an opportunity to set their pace. With a time of 1min and 17.686sec, Leclerc outpaced Norris by 0.015sec. Pierre Gasly clocked in third for Alpine making the top three for the FP2 Leclerc, Norris and Gasly.

After the second practice round, Leclerc stated; "It was a good day overall, although it is still difficult to read into the other teams’ performance as everyone is running different programmes in light of the new format. We did everything we planned to do and the feeling in the car was pretty good so let’s see what we can do tomorrow."

Reigning champion and current season leading driver, Max Verstappen placed in 11th after the 2nd practice. Supersport reported that the teams were carrying out "Alternative Tyre Allocation" trials that made fewer sets available. Both Red Bull and Mercedes opted not to attempt low-fuel, high-speed lapping. Due to this both Red Bull and Mercedes drivers took lower positions in the standings, opting to cover all their options now, in order to place better in the qualifying round on Saturday afternoon.

Verstappen stated, "With this new format you are super limited with the tyres you can use and I didn't want to use them today, so we could have a better preparation tomorrow." 

For Red Bull, not only did Verstappen place lower than top 10, but Perez crashed out due the rain-swept first session. On his first quick lap he lost control of the newly-upgraded car and crashed into the tyre wall. This incident set him back but he did manage to return to the track in FP2 and placed 18th thereafter.

Upon Daniel Riccardo’s return to the circuit he managed to place 14th after the second session.

FP3 is set to take place today at 12:30, followed by the qualifying round at 16:00. The Hungarian Grand Prix race is set for 15:00 on Sunday afternoon, the 23 July, in Budapest. 

Kayla Barker/OFM Sport