F1 Hungary LIVE: Friday practice updates as B-Spec Aston Martin debuts

"Downshifts are horrendous and the car is jumping like crazy." Another bingo card regular complaint from Verstappen. He goes top regardless with a 1m20.788s.

A huge slide from Hamilton at the final corner. He got out onto the marbles slightly, and the rear called enough. Fortunately for the Ferrari man, he was able to hold the slide and survive without any further incident. 

The times are already falling to a 1m20.884s with Leclerc, as Sainz reports that he had no radio in the moment with Verstappen. 

Verstappen slows to a crawl through the final sector after being badly blocked by Sainz. Drivers will need to be very careful about blocking as the weekend progresses. 

With their first efforts, Stroll and Alonso both put in times in the mid-1m24s bracket. We'll put this out there now, drawing any conclusions on the new Aston Martin would be unwise after FP1. The team will have a set plan, and outright pace is unlikely to be on the agenda before qualifying. 

Ryo Hirakawa puts in the first time of the session but it's far from representitive. Leclerc is 12 seconds clear of that effort with a 1m22.705s. 

19 drivers are on the track already, including both Aston Martin drivers. 

Vesti leaves the garage with big aero rakes on his car. Red Bull has similar on Hadjar's car, and Fornaroli is the only McLaren testing the 'Macarena' wing. Lots of changes on the cars. 

With three minutes to go, there is already a decent queue forming at the end of the pit lane, with both Cadillacs and one Red Bull already making the trip. 

The music has played, and we're into the final moments before FP1 begins. 

Also missing FP1 is Kimi Antonelli, with Fred Vesti given another outing with Mercedes. 

Paul Aron has featured twice in FP1 for Audi this year, but he makes his first appearance for Alpine today at the track he previously viewed as his home venue when racing in F2. 

10 minutes before the lights go green in the pit lane, and the anticipation continues to build. 

There will be several rookie drivers taking part in FP1 in around 20 minutes, including F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli, who will replace Oscar Piastri at McLaren. 

As was the case in Belgium, we're working to a regular weekend schedule in Hungary, with two practice sessions on Friday, one on Saturday ahead of qualifying, and then the grand prix on Sunday. 

Tick your bingo cards. We've already had mention of 'the first race behind the Iron Curtain'. 

Mercedes came under heavy fire from various drivers last weekend, including Russell and Piastri, after deployment issues caused a loss of pace in both the race and in qualifying, denying drivers the chance to push. 

After much digging, the manufacturer believes it has found a fix, but it probably won't be so clear if this is the case this weekend, with the Hungaroring an energy-rich track, as opposed to recent energy-starved layouts. 

Budapest is often one of those races where the weather can play a significant role in proceedings. With overtaking tricky at best, a shaken-up order due to some rain will usually result in a bizarre finishing result. 

Sadly, no such rain is forecast this weekend, with the lingering chance of a late-race shower on Sunday now reduced to less than 10%. For the established front-running teams, this is good news. For everyone else, less. 

There are smiles for now in the Aston Martin garage. But when the car takes to the track, will we see that Adrian Newey has yet again cooked, or that the team is set to continue with its season-long pain?

The entire Aston Martin upgrade package, which includes the Honda power unit not due until Zandvoort, was tentatively said to be worth around 2s per lap - a peculiar measure given the difference in lap times and lengths across the year.

However, even this level of improvement would not be enough to lift Aston Martin from the foot of the time sheets at recent events in Silverstone and Spa.