Charles Leclerc led the way on the opening day of the in-season test at the Hungaroring, with the current FIA Formula 2 Championship leader deposing a former GP2 Series champion late in the day.
The Monegasque driver, testing for Scuderia Ferrari, set the quickest lap of the day on the Pirelli Soft compound of 1:17.746s, which prevented Stoffel Vandoorne from topping the time sheets.
Vandoorne set his best time in the morning session but spent most of the afternoon in the garage after a mechanical issue on his McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team MCL32 caused a red flag, with the Belgian’s best lap coming on the Ultrasoft tyre, a compound that was not brought to the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend.
Valtteri Bottas was on Pirelli tyre testing duty, and completed a day-high 155 laps of the Hungaroring and set the third fastest time of the day, while George Russell was fourth, also for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, completed 119 laps in his first official test in a Formula 1 car.
Lance Stroll, who was not expecting to test at all this week, was fifth fastest for Williams Martini Racing after being called up to replace the ill Felipe Massa, ahead of Sahara Force India F1 Team’s junior driver Nikita Mazepin.
Force India split the days running between Mazepin and current DTM Series race winner Lucas Auer, with the Austrian finishing ninth fastest overall in his first test in a Formula 1 car.
Nicholas Latifi, one of the in-form drivers in Formula 2 this season, was seventh fastest for the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team ahead of Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Sean Gelael, who had a technical problem early in the day before returning to the track focused on long runs.
Santino Ferrucci was tenth fastest for the Haas F1 Team ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, while Gustav Malja brought up the rear of the field for the Sauber F1 Team.
Hungaroring In-Season Test Day 1 Result
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