2026 Formula 1 Hungarian GP
F1 Hungarian GP live commentary and updates - FP3
Follow along for updates from the final Formula 1 practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix
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And that's it for practice sessions! Qualifying coming up next, in a couple of hours - so we'll catch you then!
FP3 seems to be a bit of a showcase that it's not necessarily car potential, but who can get the lap right.
Norris, Hamilton and Antonelli might be the favourites for pole at the moment, but if Leclerc, Piastri, and Russell can identify where the time is slipping away, they're in this battle too.
And that's it for FP3! Lindblad finishes up with an improvement to go 13th, splitting the Alpines.
Lando Norris is the quickest man, though, 0.117s up on Hamilton.
Lindblad goes 14th on his first soft-tyre effort. Sainz improves to 18th, splitting the Aston Martins - but that's been chalked off for track limits.
Lawson goes ninth, and Hadjar improves but stays eighth.
Hamilton has a bit of a shake of the head as he skips across the chicane, having been a smidgen up in the first sector. The rear didn't want to turn in there.
Leclerc tries another lap, but still struggling to dig out time in the middle sector.
Antonelli improves on his second tour, but remains third - 0.129s off the pace. Leclerc, meanwhile, had a pretty hefty lock-up at Turn 1.
Lindblad's on the circuit, so he'll get a run on the softs.
Norris does another lap on the same softs, and posts a 1m17.939s to go back to the top.
Russell, meanwhile, isn't really getting in the groove and he's up to sixth - 0.602s off the pace.
Leclerc was well away in the middle sector, but got most of the time back in S3 - going third, and 0.085s off Norris.
Hamilton then bags a 1m18.056s to go quickest.
Alonso throws down a soft-tyre lap, and goes up to 11th - how will that shake out against the other midfield runners when they do their final soft laps?
Hulkenberg now picks up a set of softs, and goes up to ninth - 0.954s off Norris' pace.
Norris on new softs, and he's gaining. Doesn't quite get the drive out of Turn 13, but finds the time in the final corner and gets a 1m18.206s to go half a tenth faster than Antonelli.
Verstappen lost time in the middle sector, and goes fourth - 0.450s off Norris.
Antonelli's picking up the pace now, and he's locked in; two purple sectors at the start of the lap, and does a 1m18.254s. That was a new set of tyres, according to the radar.
Piastri picks up the purple middle sector, and goes 0.210s slower than the Mercedes.
Lawson's continuing to circulate on the medium tyre, and he's got the square airbox this weekend - the squarebox, as it were. He and the Audi drivers have yet to look at exploring the soft tyre yet.
Lindblad is yet to appear, with his earlier PU issue.
Leclerc's dug something out here, holds the car through the final corner, and sets a 1m18.668s. That's what we've expected from Ferrari. Old tyres, too.
Antonelli gets a lap and launches up to second, 0.144s off Leclerc's lap. Will he keep that this time?
Russell, meanwhile, has a big lock-up at Turn 1.
"The downshifts are horrific, disgusting in Turn 1 and 2", Hadjar says. He sure paints a picture!
Here's Hamilton, and grabs a 1m19.053s to go fastest by 0.009s. Verstappen has a snap through the final corner and goes up to fourth - but that snap cost him about 0.2s.
Lawson went seventh on the medium, having gone wide at Turn 4 on the previous run. Hadjar did the same, feeling the kerb rattle the car, but goes up to P3 - 0.032s off Hamilton's best effort thus far.
Antonelli's earlier time was deleted for track limits.
Antonelli is fifth fastest, 0.8s off Norris' current benchmark. Russell moves up to second, but still a quarter of a second down.
Norris goes for another lap, he was up on his previous best but then lost 0.8s in the final sector.
Piastri's up next, very tight apex for Turn 13, and moves up to P2.
Verstappen opens a lap, but there's a lot of traffic in front of him - which we'll certainly see in Q1 later today. He goes up to third, two tenths down on Hadjar.
Leclerc then shuffles ahead of Verstappen, 0.325s off Norris' benchmark.
And we're back, now that Perez's car has been cleared away. Gasly, Antonelli, and Russell are first on the scene.
Blimey, so Perez got out of the pits, the engine seemed to cut, and the rear axle just locked. Incredibly strange.
Alonso has to take evasive action as Stroll was a bit in the way up to Turn 4. Something seemed to fly off the car.
Norris posts a 1m19.062s to go top, so the pace is getting somewhere now. Hadjar splits the McLarens.
Perez has come to a stop at Turn 2. Those brakes don't look healthy...
We have a red flag.
Piastri brings us below the 80-second barrier with a 1m19.918s on a set of softs.
We've now got both Ferraris, Bortoleto, Lawson, Norris, and Hadjar on track - Leclerc opens with a 1m20.155s, Hamilton on a 1m20.505s.
Stroll does a 1m22.163s, as Piastri and Alonso now hit the track. 45 minutes left, and we're starting to get a bit of action now.
Hulkenberg hits the track on a set of mediums and starts a lap - Bottas has opened his account with a time in the 1m23s, but he seemed to be struggling a bit with low grip in the final sector.
It's a 1m20.643s for the Audi driver, who now goes fastest.
So, why such a slow start to FP3? The teams have nine sets of tyres left, and need most of those for qualifying.
Bottas is on the road now, as Colapinto has raised the bar with a 1m21.747s.
Lindblad's car is undergoing some heavy work at the rear, so it appears to be a PU issue there. Alan Permane reckons the car should get out before the end of the session - he tells Sky it's a 'precautionary change'.
Stroll hits the track, after missing FP2 yesterday following a suspension breakage in the first session.
The track looks dusty once more, as Colapinto kicks up a miasma of dirt through Turn 3.
A 1m22.464s as the benchmark, about 3.5s off the ultimate pace from yesterday and about a second and a half down on Gasly's best lap in FP2.
More drivers are getting suited and booted before jumping in the car.
Oh, there's a car! Franco Colapinto gets on-track, seeking to make up for lost time after his crash yesterday.
FP3 begins!
...but we've got no takers just yet. So, yeah.
Just a couple of minutes to go until FP3 opens for business.
This is the bit where we find out if Mercedes has been hiding some of its hand, or whether Ferrari's pace is genuine around here.
Track repaired overnight following driver complaints
Turn 1 at the Hungaroring has been partially resurfaced overnight in response to driver complaints after the first day of practice for the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
It’s understood that some areas of the track have been resurfaced within the past two years but the hot, dry summer caused some sub-surface settlement, exacerbating some of the bumps. Additionally, the track surface had begun to open up, most noticeably at Turns 1, 12 and 13.
Hungarian GP - FP3 coming up!
Hello, thanks for dropping by! F1's FP3 session at the Hungaroring is coming up shortly - the final hour of practice before we get into the big-ticket sessions.
Has Ferrari kept the pace to stay ahead, or will someone have made a step overnight? Let's see.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
