Hamilton fastest as new Aston Martin makes encouraging debut

By

F1 Correspondent at the Hungaroring

Lewis Hamilton led team-mate Charles Leclerc to a Ferrari one-two in Friday practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was 0.148 seconds ahead of Leclerc, with McLaren's Lando Norris third, 0.499secs off the pace, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen fourth.

Fernando Alonso ended the day 19th fastest in the new Aston Martin after what team principal Adrian Newey said was a "promising" first outing for a car that is new apart from its engine, gearbox and front suspension.

Alonso was 2.990secs off the pace, but had a lap nearly 0.4secs faster ruled out for track limits at the final corner.

Although that is still a long way from competitiveness, it is a significant step forward from where Aston Martin have spent most of the season.

Ferrari looked in good shape, as might have been expected on a track that lends itself to the car's strong cornering performance.

But Mercedes, with George Russell in fifth 0.933secs off the pace and championship leader Kimi Antonelli in 13th, appeared to have some work to do.

Antonelli did not complete a qualifying simulation lap in the second session.

His first had to be abandoned when Franco Colapinto crashed his Alpine at the last corner, and his second came to grief when he made an error going into the chicane.

Antonelli was complaining all session about rear brake locking, but he was on a par with Norris' time in the first sector on both laps before they were curtailed.

Behind Russell, Red Bull's Isack Hadjar was sixth fastest, ahead of Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson and McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

Audi's Nico Hulkenberg and Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.

Between the sessions, Newey said about the new Aston Martin: "Provisional results are promising. It's only part of the package, so we'll have some more steps in Zandvoort and then further in Monza and Baku.

"It's the first part of our planned upgrade. We're very short on parts, so we're being careful with it and trying to learn all about it."

Engine partner Honda is introducing a new engine at the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break.

The day was not all positive for Aston Martin, however. Alonso's team-mate Lance Stroll spun out of the first session with what initially appeared to be a rear suspension failure.

He was then unable to take part in the second because there was not enough time to repair the car.

Team representative Pedro de la Rosa said: "It is a suspension failure. We were confident it would not happen in Fernando's car. That's why we sent him out. Because of the lack of spares we couldn't repair his car on time. Some parts need to be repaired and some needed to come here."