Norris lays down strong Hungarian GP challenge to Red Bull and Mercedes

Despite going big on an upgrade package to the RB20 for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull does not appear to be the favourite heading into qualifying and the race.

The engine cover and cooling of Verstappen's RB20 has been resculpted for the Hungaroring weekend, with the 'shoulder air-intakes' and bazookas to channel air to the rear of the car removed, with Sergio Perez continuing to run the old-style layout, although this is the sole difference between the two cars with other minor upgrades being shared.

In practice, Verstappen bagged a pair of P2 finishes behind Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, with Perez impressing in FP2 in particular in fourth place, having set his fastest lap on the medium tyres. 

Norris enjoyed a two-tenth barrier to Verstappen in FP2, with the McLaren enjoying qaurter of a second advantage through the 28 or so seconds of Sector 1, with Verstappen slightly ahead through Sectors 2 and 3. 

But such is the gap Norris built up through Sector 1, he was able to maintain P1, as the table below shows with Carlos Sainz and George Russell's best times also added.

Text continues below the table.

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Long run pace at Hungarian GP

With the high expected track and air temperatures expected in Budapest, the hard compound tyres will be the favoured race tyres in what could be a multi-stop race such as the degradation will be high.

In the data below, Norris completed his long run on the hard C3 rubber, with Verstappen, Sainz and Russell doing so on the C4 yellow-marked medium compound.

The McLaren driver has a small, but consistent advantage over Verstappen on the long runs, lapping around the 1:24 mark, even dipping into the high 1:23 region, with Verstappen's Red Bull around about three-tenths slower per lap, although the gap fluctuated.

At the end of their respective stints, Verstappen nipped ahead of Norris on the final two laps, with Perez also well within the margin Red Bull requires from its second driver.

As for Russell, removing the outliers from his run, he was able to match Norris in the low 1:24 region, although his times were not as consistent with Sainz gathering all of the long run data for Ferrari after Charles Leclerc crashed early on in FP2.

The SF-24 appears to be around half-a-second of Norris's pace.