5 Things We Learned From 2026 Hungarian GP Friday Practice
Friday free practice sessions for the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix saw plenty of development drivers take the wheel for their respective teams, some shock results at the top and bottom of the standings and a huge crash yet again for Colapinto and Alpine.
Video Transcript
Magyar Nagydij got underway earlier today for free practice one and free practice two for the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix.
But what did we learn from the final set of Friday practice sessions of the first half of the 2026 season?
Well, I'm glad you've asked.
You've come to the right place for that.
F1chronicle.com, Formula Report, social media, let's go.
So Hungary was a bit of a popular place when it comes to free practice drivers.
Of course, every single driver or every single team has to run a certain amount of Friday free practice drivers at some point during the season, and we had many such examples today in free practice one for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
These were Frederik Vesti for Mercedes, Leo Fornaroli for McLaren, Ry Hirakawa for Haas, Paul Aron was in action, this time for Alpine rather than Audi, and Colton Herta was in action for Cadillac.
Unsurprisingly, given the fact that he's of course driving a Mercedes, the current championship leaders in both the drivers' and constructors' standings.
No real big incidents to report when it came to these drivers.
Some lockups here and there, but nothing that even an experienced driver would be suffering, so all did a pretty good job in my opinion when it comes to FP1.
Aston Martin, second thing we learned.
Aston Martin are looking a little better, I would say.
I mean, they really flattered to deceive in free practice one.
You had Fernando Alonso all the way up in, what was it, P13.
Relatively competitive, and that's because the car is basically almost a, almost a B-spec car.
Unlike every other team pretty much, they haven't chosen to go for incremental upgrades throughout the season.
They've just done all of them.
They've done every single one of them.
Basically an entirely new car.
13, 14 new upgrades, something like that, on the car this weekend compared to Belgium just a week ago.
They've got a big upgrade when it comes to the Honda engine as well, coming for Zandvoort, the next round of the season, in just over four weeks' time.
Lance Stroll was basically nowhere in free practice one, and in free practice two he was literally nowhere, didn't even compete due to a mechanical issue.
Alonso was down in P19, though, out of 21 runners, so maybe the dream is not quite there for the Green Machines at the moment.
But, you know, anything better than the worst team on the grid is an improvement for them at the moment.
Even Cadillac have overtaken them, so we'll see how they get on through the remainder of this weekend.
Alonso is no stranger to pulling out an incredible result around the Hungaroring.
Indeed, it's the site of his first ever victory in Formula One in 2003, before a lot of the drivers on the current grid were even born, before some of them were even thought about, like Kimi Antonelli.
Third thing that we learned is that Red Bull might well be the closest challengers to the top runners.
Who are the top runners?
We'll get into that as we go.
It's probably not the team that you think it's going to be, though.
In free practice one, they were up in P2 and P4, were Verstappen and Hadjar respectively, and they also placed pretty highly during free practice two as well.
Although Lando Norris's McLaren was the closest challenger to the top team, so maybe they won't be the main challengers, but they're certainly looking competitive are Red Bull, around a track where they've had a lot of success over the years for both cars, not just the lead driver, but also the second driver in those respective seasons.
Franco Colapinto, of course, didn't compete in free practice one, but he did in free practice two, although his mechanics are probably still repairing the car right now.
He had a spin at the final corner, just lost control of the car, spun into the barriers, and destroyed most of the car as a result.
Thankfully, he's okay, but it's gonna be a big, big repair for that car, and probably a gearbox replacement.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if he's taking a grid penalty for the race on Sunday.
But we'll see if any official confirmation comes our way from Alpine.
And the fifth and final thing, the team on top, is it Mercedes?
No.
No, it's not.
Mercedes not looking particularly great during these two sessions.
It's instead Ferrari.
A one-two for the Scuderia during free practice two, and also a very solid showing of first and third during free practice one.
They do look like the team to beat.
I thought they would be the team to beat.
I mean, they have got the best car on the grid in terms of the chassis, but it's the engine that always lets them down around most circuits.
They've been very competitive, though, around the British Grand Prix and also the Belgian Grand Prix, so they could well get a victory.
And looking at the results to date, I would say they are the favorites to do so.
Mercedes, miles off it, particularly Kimi Antonelli.
They looked really bad in free practice two.
Just looked like there was no grip out there.
It was rather hot in Hungary today, as it usually is at this time of year, especially for the Grand Prix, but for whatever reason, it looked like it was greased ice out there, to use a Martin Brundle-ism.
So Mercedes have a lot of work to do.
Red Bull and McLaren looking strong.
Ferrari, though, the team to beat, I would say, going off of this.
I said Hamilton was gonna win coming into this weekend, and it would be very fitting if he managed to do so as well.
There have been four corners named after different drivers in Formula One over the years, Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, and Sir Lewis Hamilton all getting corners named after them during this weekend around the Hungaroring.
Hamilton, by the way, just for reference, is turn two.
That's the second corner in Formula One, or the first corner, I should say, in Formula One named after him.
The second section of a circuit in Formula One named after him, of course, the Silverstone Hamilton Straight, has been there for a few years now.
Let me know your thoughts about free practice one and two in the comments below.
As always, guys, like, share, comment, subscribe, and we'll see you soon for much more action on thef1chronicle.com and Formula Reports.
