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Nicholas Latifi

Latifi grabs P1 in rain-hit final practice as Vettel crashes out

Nicholas Latifi rose to the top of the times with a late improvement on Intermediate tyres during a wet final practice session at the Hungaroring.

Latifi
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Nicholas Latifi and Williams were surprise pace-setters in Saturday's rain-affected third and final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Latifi claimed top spot with a time of 1:41.480 during a late run on Intermediate tyres, as conditions gradually dried up after heavy showers.

Charles Leclerc, having led the majority of the session before the flurry of Intermediate-shod action, wound up second, six-tenths off Latifi's benchmark.

Alex Albon made it two Williams cars in the top three, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mercedes' George Russell completing the top five positions.

Sebastian Vettel crashed out of proceedings as the track was drying up, losing control in the slippery conditions and bringing out the red flags.

Result Free practice 3 - Hungarian

# Driver Team Time Tyre
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Rain arrives at the Hungaroring

After a baking hot first day of action, the predicted thundery showers arrived on Saturday morning, flooding the track in the build-up to FP3.

Despite the turn in the weather, the final 60-minute practice session got underway as scheduled, with Ferrari the first team to venture out on track.

Using the Full Wet Pirelli tyres, Leclerc worked his way down to a time of 1:43.364, an effort that remained fastest until the closing stages.

It was during a late break in the weather that drivers switched their Wets for Intermediates, turning the timing splits green and purple in the process.

But just as this was happening, Vettel crashed at Turn 10, putting a pause to proceedings and leading to a frantic final few minutes when the session restarted.

As the track went green again, Latifi dashed out to clock his pace-setting time, with Leclerc – who survived a spin exiting Turn 3 – settling for second ahead of Albon, title rival Verstappen and Russell.

Hamilton back in 11th in the mixed conditions

Fernando Alonso was next up for Alpine in sixth, having briefly slotted behind Leclerc before Vettel's crash and the final sequence of improvements.

Carlos Sainz followed in the other Ferrari, with McLaren's Lando Norris, the sidelined Aston Martin of Vettel and Kevin Magnussen's updated Haas completing the top 10.

Lewis Hamilton had to settle for 11th position, complaining of a lack of grip after switching from the Wet to the Intermediate rubber.

It was another quiet session for Sergio Perez, who this time placed at the very back as he appeared to miss the 'best' of the conditions in his Red Bull.

Rain looks set to remain a threat for qualifying later in the day, which is scheduled to begin at 16:00 local time (15:00 BST).

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F1 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix RN365 News dossier

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