Sainz leads Verstappen as Hungarian GP weekend begins

Carlos Sainz topped the timesheets during Friday's opening free practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, as Ferrari started the weekend ahead of Red Bull.

Sainz worked his way down to a time of 1:18.750 on the Soft compound tyre across the one hour of running, with drivers tackling the Hungaroring in hot conditions.

Sainz's effort put him 0.130s clear of French GP winner Max Verstappen, with teammate Charles Leclerc another tenth-and-a-half back in third position.

Behind the lead Ferrari and Red Bull machines, Lando Norris was 'best of the rest' in a McLaren that has been tipped to suit the tight and twisty track layout.

Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton took fifth and seventh respectively, sandwiching the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez (who hit traffic on a late flyer).

There was a slight scare for Russell in the closing stages of the session, with his engineer telling him to slow down amid overheating concerns.

A straightforward first session in Hungary

Daniel Ricciardo was next on the list in eighth position, making it two McLarens in the top 10 – albeit half a second adrift of teammate Norris.

Alpine pair Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso took ninth and 10th, with the Aston Martins and AlphaTauris also running two-by-two in positions 11 to 14.

Zhou Guanyu led Alfa Romeo's charge in 15th, with test and reserve driver Robert Kubica ending another FP1 outing in Valtteri Bottas' car towards the back.

Williams continued to gather data with recent updates to Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi's cars in 16th and 20th, with Kubica and the Haas pair slotting between them.

Kevin Magnussen ended the session a tenth ahead of Mick Schumacher as the Dane got his first taste of the VF-22's major upgrade package.