Lando Norris edges Oscar Piastri as F1 rookie suffers 'systems critical' woe

Lando Norris shaved first practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix from Oscar Piastri as the McLaren duo maintained their head-to-head fight for this season's F1 drivers' championship.

Norris posted a session-best time of 1:16.052s, a lap just eight-tenths of a second off his pole position from a year ago, at such an early stage in the weekend.

Piastri, who leads Norris by 16 points in the drivers' standings, finished just 0.019s adrift, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc third fastest, two-tenths of a second off the pace.

Propping up the timesheet was Paul Aron, involved in his second FP1 session with Sauber after an initial run-out at Silverstone, with the Estonian in the car for Nico Hulkenberg.

But Aron's time lasted for just nine laps as he was forced to pull off track due to a "systems critical alarm" showing on his dashboard, upon which he was told to immediately stop the car, much to his frustration.

Lock-ups galore!

Over the opening 20 minutes, there was a mix of hard and medium compound tyres in use, and naturally it was those on the yellow-striped rubber who dominated at the top of the early standings.

It was Norris who set the first true benchmark with a lap of 1:17.631s, at that stage 0.618s clear of Piastri.

Norris' time was such that Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton asked as to where he was one second down to his fellow Briton, given the strong early pace set, later bemoaning the fact "the car doesn't feel good". 

Hamilton, a record eight-time winner at this circuit - three with McLaren and five with Mercedes - did improve, only to fall a second adrift again when Leclerc posted a 1:17.420s.

Leclerc's time, though, was short-lived as Norris again went six-tenths of a second clear, posting a 1:16.837s.

Just before the half-hour mark, Aron's run-out ended in dismay, given the failure within his car, following which soft-tyre running commenced.

Leclerc again showed strong early form with a 1:16.791s, but minutes later, that time was eclipsed by Norris with a 1:16.052s, a lap that remained unbeaten through to the close.

Piastri closed the sizeable gap, at least, to 0.142s, whilst a second push from Leclerc saw him move to within two-tenths.

Max Verstappen, trialling a new front wing on his Red Bull, given the high downforce requirements of the circuit, was off the pace with his first significant run on the softs, finishing 0.888s adrift 

Then the mistakes kicked in as Norris and Hamilton suffered major lock-ups into Turn 1, followed soon after by Felipe Drugovich, the Aston Martin reserve in the car for Fernando Alonso, who ruled himself out because of a back injury. 

Norris' failure to get a second push lap on his softs allowed Piastri to finish the session by closing the gap to 0.019s.

Behind Leclerc, Racing Bull's Isack Hadjar was a superb fourth, albeit 0.629s adrift, followed by Hamilton, four-tenths behind his team-mate.

Haas driver Oliver Bearman was a fine sixth, with Kimi Antonelli a confidence-boosting seventh in a Mercedes that has the pre-Imola spec suspension on the car. The 18-year-old's best results came in the first six races before Imola, following which he has severely struggled.

Antonelli finished ahead of team-mate George Russell, with Verstappen ninth, and Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin 10th, 0.906s down. 

Drugovich finished 16th, 1.217s adrift, ahead of another session of struggle for Yuki Tsunoda in his Red Bull.