Charles Leclerc sets rapid Hungary benchmark but Ferrari stoppage raises concern

Charles Leclerc set the pace in first practice ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, although was forced to stop due to an issue. 

The Ferrari driver stopped at the entry to the pit lane shortly after going quickest, causing him to lose the closing minutes of FP1. 

Max Verstappen went second fastest but was five-tenths adrift of Leclerc and is also under investigation, following an incident with Carlos Sainz. 

It was a red-flagged first practice after Lance Stroll came to a halt, in a massively upgraded Aston Martin. Lewis Hamilton, Isack Hadjar and George Russell completed the top five.

How Hungarian GP FP1 unfolded

It was a frenetic start to first practice in Hungary, a session which featured five rookie drivers. Leonardo Fornaroli replaced Oscar Piastri at McLaren, Fred Vesti stood in for Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, Paul Aron replaced Franco Colapinto at Alpine, Colton Herta took Valtteri Bottas' seat at Cadillac, and Ryo Hirakawa replaced Oliver Bearman at Haas.

Max Verstappen quickly became unhappy at the end of his first hot lap after being impeded by Carlos Sainz. However, it was soon discovered that the Spaniard had no radio. Despite this, the pair will be investigated after the session.

Just a few minutes later, the Dutchman was again complaining over the Red Bull radio, this time about "horrendous downshifts" and his RB22 "jumping like crazy". Around the same time, Lewis Hamilton nearly spun at the final corner and bemoaned the car being too stiff.

Even though Verstappen was far from pleased, he was quickest halfway through the session with a 1m 19.559, ahead of George Russell, although they were the only two drivers to have posted a soft-tyre lap.

Charles Leclerc, in third, was the fastest of the medium-tyre runners, seven-tenths adrift. Hamilton and Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top five.

Unfortunately, a red flag was flown with 23 minutes remaining after Lance Stroll came to a halt following a rear suspension failure, one of the 16 new components fitted to the car. The session resumed almost seven minutes later.

With just over 15 minutes remaining, the stoppage disrupted the soft-tyre runs for most of the other drivers. However, Leclerc did go quickest with a 1m 19.075, with Verstappen, Hamilton, Isack Hadjar and Russell completing the top five.

The joy of going quickest was soon forgotten for Leclerc as he came to a halt at the start of the pit lane, reporting a problem which forced the Ferrari mechanics to retrieve his SF-26.

It brought the Monegasque's session to a close, although no further improvements were made as attention turned to high-fuel runs. Bortoleto, Vesti, Nico Hülkenberg, Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completed the top 10.