Hamilton sets pace as McLaren hold qualifying joker

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in final practice as F1's pecking order remains up in the air ahead of Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.

The Mercedes driver set a best time of a 1:17.811 to finish 0.250secs faster than Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who set his best lap in similar track conditions.

Sergio Perez recovered well from his Friday struggles to finish third quickest, only 0.006s slower than Verstappen on the Soft tyres and within a tenth of the championship leader on the early Medium runs.

The 'Alternative Tyre Allowance' employed by F1 and Pirelli this weekend has left teams running different programmes across practice sessions.

Mercedes had only run a single set of Medium tyres on each car on Friday, but the W14 came alive for Hamilton when the Softs were added late in FP3.

Verstappen complained of a lack of rear stability as wind gusts hit the Hungaroring, though was able to secure the second-best time ahead of his teammate.

Nico Hulkenberg's stunning Saturday pace continued with the fourth-fastest time for Haas, though fuel loads will likely skew the results.

Lando Norris holds the qualifying joker in the pack for McLaren, finishing 0.271s down on Hamilton despite running his qualifying simulation on the Medium tyres.

George Russell was sixth fastest for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Fernando Alonso ended ninth for Aston Martin ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who completed a trio of top 10s in practice for Alfa Romeo.

With no one experiencing any issues throughout the final hour of practice running, Daniel Ricciardo ended his session 18th for AlphaTauri, though he only ran the mediums.

The same could be said of Yuki Tsunoda, who rounded out the classification.