Practice report
Formula 1 Hungarian GP
Hungarian GP: Latifi tops wet final F1 practice
Williams driver Nicholas Latifi trumped Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by half a second to set the pace in a rain-soaked final practice ahead of Formula 1's 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Matt Kew
Edited: Jul 30, 2022, 12:57 PM
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The Canadian, who is fighting for a new contract to remain on the grid with the Grove team, surprisingly bolted to the top in the dying moments of a slippery FP3 to pip second practice pacesetter Leclerc.
Alex Albon, who had taken the flag moments before his Williams teammate, secured third ahead of his former Red Bull stablemate and defending champion Max Verstappen.
A downpour in the hour leading up to FP3, which helped flood the paddock and caused a few motorhomes to leak, created a cautious start to the hour-long Saturday session.
Leclerc was the first car to emerge after three minutes, followed shortly by teammate Sainz and then both McLarens, Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher joined the action.
The full wet tyre was the pick of the bunch, Leclerc taking the blue-walled rubber to a 1m46.044s initially before Carlos Sainz found half a second to sit provisionally top of the pack.
Then two-time champion Fernando Alonso ventured out on intermediates, requiring plenty of corrections throughout the lap and he was ultimately 5.8s off the pace as the crossover point was yet to arrive.
The full wets continued as the optimal tyre for the conditions, as Leclerc only needed 10 minutes to post his 1m43.364s effort that would take him to the head of the leaderboard for almost the entire session.
That offered him a 1.25s cushion over Sainz before heavier rain arrived - with none of the Red Bull or Mercedes cars having left the garage.
With Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel off track at Turn 7, the Ferrari benchmark remained, although Alonso could at least close to within 2.4s to move to third ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.
Stroll would pip Alonso before a string of mistakes at Turn 4 - Zhou, Pierre Gasly, Latifi and Albon combating understeer and oversteer to require the run-off on the outside of the medium-speed left-hander.
With conditions deteriorating, Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc vacated the cockpit completely to leave only Mick Schumacher out on track after 22 minutes.
Six minutes later, the track was comparatively busy as the standing water started to dissipate - this allowed the Haas cars climbed to 3-4 and the forecast showed no more rain would arrive as visibility improved.
That would not stop Pierre Gasly bringing out a yellow flag shortly after when he chopped the inside kerb at Turn 7 to spin, that preceded George Russell continuing straight on at Turn 12.
This came as Mercedes struggled greatly to generate tyre temperatures at the rear axle most of all, something that prompted a shake of the head from Lewis Hamilton.
With Alonso returning to second, posting a 1m43.570s, as he persisted with the intermediates, Aston Martin driver Vettel then called out a red flag with nine minutes to run.
The AMR22 broke away from the retiring four-time world champion through the Turn 10 left-hander, initiating him into a spin to career across the gravel and biff side-on into the barrier.
The session would resume six minutes later, with Verstappen finally setting a representative lap as the chequered flag came out to move fastest, the RB18 clocking a 1m43.205s.
He was then immediately pipped over the line by Leclerc, the Ferrari driver - who moments before caught a 360-degree spin out of Turn 3 - improving to a 1m42.141s.
With Albon slotting in what would be third in the dying moment, then all eyes were on Latifi in the Williams.
He had held the fastest time of all through the first sector in the updated FW44.
And as the last driver to cross the line, the Canadian had stitched together a sequence of purple micro sectors to buzz over the line in 1m41.480s to find 0.6s over Leclerc.
This came despite having to go round an AlphaTauri at Turn 1 and plenty of corrections.
Verstappen, as a result, would be shuffled to fourth ahead of Russell and Alonso.
Meanwhile, FP1 topper Sainz would be relegated to seventh over Norris and Vettel's final attempt.
Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10 over Hamilton, Schumacher and Esteban Ocon.
Ricciardo and Stroll led Zhou, while Tsunoda completed a messy session for AlphaTauri in 17th over Valtteri Bottas, Gasly and Sergio Perez - the Red Bull completing the fewest laps with just 21 combined.
Cla Driver Chassis Engine Laps Time Gap 1 Nicholas Latifi
Williams Mercedes 17 1'41.480 2 Charles Leclerc
Ferrari Ferrari 14 1'42.141 0.661 3 Alex Albon
Williams Mercedes 19 1'42.381 0.901 4 Max Verstappen
Red Bull Red Bull 10 1'43.205 1.725 5 George Russell
Mercedes Mercedes 13 1'43.434 1.954 6 Fernando Alonso
Alpine Renault 16 1'43.570 2.090 7 Carlos Sainz
Ferrari Ferrari 15 1'43.589 2.109 8 Lando Norris
McLaren Mercedes 13 1'43.743 2.263 9 Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin Mercedes 14 1'44.178 2.698 10 Kevin Magnussen
Haas Ferrari 20 1'44.655 3.175 11 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes Mercedes 11 1'44.832 3.352 12 Mick Schumacher
Haas Ferrari 18 1'45.156 3.676 13 Esteban Ocon
Alpine Renault 17 1'45.570 4.090 14 Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren Mercedes 11 1'45.624 4.144 15 Lance Stroll
Aston Martin Mercedes 17 1'45.638 4.158 16 Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo Ferrari 17 1'45.691 4.211 17 Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri Red Bull 17 1'45.850 4.370 18 Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo Ferrari 20 1'45.930 4.450 19 Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri Red Bull 18 1'46.091 4.611 20 Sergio Perez
Red Bull Red Bull 11 1'48.240 6.760 View full results
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