Sir Lewis Hamilton ended Friday at the top of the timesheets after Ferrari completed a commanding one-two in second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix, underlining the Scuderia’s strong early form at the Hungaroring.

Having finished third in the opening session behind team-mate Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, Hamilton found significant pace in FP2, stopping the clock at 1:18.729 to finish 0.148 seconds clear of Leclerc.

The result capped an encouraging day for Ferrari, which had looked competitive from the outset on a circuit many expected to suit the characteristics of the SF-26.

Championship rival Lando Norris emerged as Ferrari’s closest challenger in third for McLaren, just under half a second adrift, while Verstappen placed fourth for Red Bull.

Hamilton was pleased with the progress made throughout the day despite difficult conditions.

“It was a solid day overall. The conditions were quite challenging, with the wind making things a bit tricky and the track feeling quite bumpy in some places,” Hamilton said.

“The car felt better in FP2 and we made some good progress between the sessions, although there are still a few areas we need to improve. We’ll go through all the data overnight, keep working on the balance and hopefully find a bit more performance for tomorrow.”

Mercedes on the back foot

While Ferrari impressed, Mercedes endured a difficult afternoon.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli returned to the cockpit after sitting out the opening practice session for Mercedes’ mandatory rookie driver programme, but the Italian struggled throughout FP2. Persistent rear-locking issues led to several off-track excursions, leaving him only 13th and almost two seconds off Hamilton’s benchmark.

George Russell fared better in fifth but still finished nearly a second behind the Ferrari despite setting his quickest lap on fresh soft tyres.

The session also highlighted contrasting fortunes across the front-running teams. Isack Hadjar continued Red Bull’s solid showing in sixth, while Liam Lawson impressed by putting Racing Bulls seventh, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who was making his first appearance of the day after also missing FP1.

Red flags interrupt running

The one-hour session was briefly halted when Franco Colapinto lost control of his Alpine on entry to the final corner before making heavy contact with the barriers, bringing out the red flags while marshals recovered the damaged car.

Earlier in the day, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had also caused a stoppage after a suspension failure left his upgraded AMR26 stranded on circuit. The Canadian was unable to take part in FP2 as the team continued repairs.

Fernando Alonso managed to return for the evening session and, despite finishing 19th after having a quicker lap deleted for exceeding track limits, reported that Aston Martin’s extensive upgrade package had delivered the improvements the team expected.

With Ferrari appearing comfortable over both single-lap pace and longer runs, the Italian team heads into Saturday as the early favourite ahead of the all-important qualifying session.

Official results: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2026/races/1291/hungary/practice/2