Sainz tops opening practice in Hungary ahead of Verstappen
Sainz posted a 1m18.750s on soft tyres to end up 0.130s clear of Red Bull’s Verstappen, with Charles Leclerc 0.289s down on his Ferrari teammate in third.
Verstappen heads to the Hungaroring holding a commanding 63-point buffer over Leclerc in the championship following his win last time out in France, after title rival Leclerc crashed out from the lead.
Lando Norris was a strong fourth for McLaren and just 0.549s off the pace, ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes and Sergio Perez, who was heard sneezing three times while driving his Red Bull having reported he was suffering with allergies when out on track.
Eight-time Hungarian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton was seventh-fastest, 0.104s behind Mercedes teammate Russell after hitting traffic and aborting one of his soft tyre runs following a wide moment into Turn 11.
Eighth place went the way of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo as the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon - who won last year’s race at the Hungaroring - and Fernando Alonso, who is celebrating his 41st birthday, completed the rest of the FP1 top 10 order.
Alonso was just 0.006s faster than fellow multiple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who announced he is retiring at the end of the season ahead of this weekend’s race in Hungary.
Towards the bottom of the order, Kevin Magnussen debuted Haas’ first major upgrade of the season on his way to finishing 17th, one tenth ahead of teammate Mick Schumacher.
Robert Kubica - standing in for Alfa Romeo regular Valtteri Bottas - and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi sat at the bottom of the FP1 timesheet.
