Hungary F1 test: Vandoorne edges Leclerc on opening morning

Vandoorne jumped to the top of the timesheets towards the end of the second hour when he logged a 1m19.402s, beating Valtteri Bottas - who is performing 2018 test work for Pirelli - by 0.021s.

The Belgian then cemented his position with a 1m19.040s shortly afterwards, which was followed by a 1m18.550s early in the third hour.

With around an hour and 15 minutes left of running, F2 points leader Leclerc, making his first outing in Ferrari's 2017 car, recovered from an early spin to go 0.087s up on Vandoorne with a 1m18.463s using supersoft tyres.

That effort was only bettered by Vandoorne with half an hour remaining, a 1m18.370s set on supersofts putting the McLaren regular 0.093s ahead before he stopped out on track and caused a late red flag period.

Behind Leclerc, Bottas was third fastest, 1.053s slower than Vandoorne but completing the most laps of any driver with 71 tours to his credit.

Lance Stroll, filling in for an unwell Felipe Massa at Williams, was fourth, 1.496s off the pace, followed by Force India's Nikita Mazepin a further 0.044s back. The Russian hands over to Lucas Auer this afternoon.

On his F1 test debut, GP3 star George Russell completed 54 laps for Mercedes on his way to the sixth-best time of the morning, his best effort putting him 1.823s behind Vandoorne.

Nicholas Latifi was seventh for Renault, followed by Haas junior Santino Ferrucci and Max Verstappen, whose Red Bull spent much of the morning in the garage with a reported engine problem.

The Dutchman finally hit the track in the fourth hour, but with Vandoorne's stoppage he only completed 11 laps and ended up 3.6s off the pace.

F2 pair Sean Gelael (Toro Rosso) and Gustav Malja (Sauber) propped up the timesheets, Gelael causing a lengthy red flag period when his car stopped out on track following a spin for the Indonesian.

Morning times:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:18.370		34
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:18.463	+0.093	49
3	Valtteri Bottas*	Mercedes	1:19.423	+1.053	71
4	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:19.866	+1.496	65
5	Nikita Mazepin	Force India	1:19.910	+1.540	52
6	George Russell	Mercedes	1:20.193	+1.823	54
7	Nicholas Latifi	Renault	1:20.302	+1.932	40
8	Santino Ferrucci	Haas	1:21.654	+3.284	55
9	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:22.054	+3.684	11
10	Sean Gelael	Toro Rosso	1:22.693	+4.323	23
11	Gustav Malja	Sauber	1:22.969	+4.599	45