Max Verstappen finished ninth in the first free practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday. Lando Norris was the fastest at the sunny Hungaroring.
The 27-year-old Verstappen didn’t seem to have any major problems, but simply didn’t seem to have the speed to work his way higher up the timesheet. With a time of 1.16.940, he was almost nine tenths slower than McLaren driver Norris.
Norris, in turn, was nineteen thousandths faster than his teammate Oscar Piastri (second). Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc made a good impression in third place. He was two tenths short of Norris’ time. Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar (+0.629) surprisingly finished fourth. Lewis Hamilton (+0.682) completed the top five.
The first free practice of the weekend went without major incidents. Reserve driver Paul Aron stalled in his Sauber halfway through the session with technical problems, causing one of the few yellow flags of the session.
Fernando Alonso was absent at Aston Martin due to back problems. He was replaced by Felipe Drugovich, who clocked the sixteenth time. The expectation is that Alonso will be able to participate in the second practice, which starts at 5:00 PM.
Verstappen announced in Hungary on Thursday that he will also drive for Red Bull next year. Despite a running contract, he has been linked with Mercedes in recent months.