Hungarian Grand Prix 2024: Ferrari duo dominates FP1 in Hungaroring, Verstappen joins them too

The first practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix provided a glimmer of hope for Ferrari fans, with both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc delivering impressive performances. However, it was Max Verstappen who once again demonstrated his dominance, setting an intimidating benchmark for the rest of the field.

Ferrari has been struggling since Charles Leclerc's victory in Monaco at the end of May. The team's performance took a nosedive after introducing an upgrade package at the Spanish Grand Prix, which seemed to hurt their car's performance. To counter this, the Scuderia introduced a revised floor for the SF-24s for this race weekend at the Hungaroring.

Carlos Sainz took full advantage of the new floor, clocking the fastest lap of the session with a time of 1:18.713. This impressive lap around the tight and twisty Hungaroring circuit was a promising sign for Ferrari, suggesting that the updates might be working. His teammate, Charles Leclerc, finished three-tenths of a second behind in third place, indicating a significant improvement for the team.

Max Verstappen dominated the track again!

Max Verstappen, however, remained the driver to beat. The Dutchman, who has been in formidable form this season, posted the second-fastest time, just 0.276 seconds off Sainz's pace. What made Verstappen's performance even more ominous was that his lap was set on used soft tyres, indicating there might be more speed to come from the Red Bull when running on fresh rubber. 

Verstappen's RB20 also featured an upgrade package for this weekend, which the three-time F1 champion had described as "crucial" in the build-up. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez had a contrasting session. The Mexican driver, who is under pressure to perform, was without the most dynamic parts of the Red Bull update, notably the side pods and engine cover. This left Perez 11th on the timesheets, 0.727 seconds off the pace set by his teammate.

Here is the final FP1 standings: