Sainz, show of force in Hungary

on top In top form. In a state of grace. That’s right Carlos Sainz. He won his first F1 race at Silverstone, in Austria his engine caught fire when he was going second, and at Paul Ricard, the mere need to change the engine kept him from a possible pole position and the fight for to success. On Sunday he shone with great pace and 19 overtakes that proved the immense confidence he has gained in a car that at the start of the year he had to fight. After a complex adaptation to a single-seater far from his driving style, Carlos changed his chip from Baku and now seems like a new man. He arrives in Hungary warning that he wants to go for his second win. And it started off on a very good foot.

Carlos Sainz led the first practices of the Hungarian GP leaving a very good feeling. He was fast in all sectors, he did not suffer any setbacks, he looked comfortable all the time and the times were easy. He only made an initial height change and then found the right balance of his car, going fast from start to finish and setting the fastest time on a used 5-lap tire, beating a Verstappen who had his time on a younger tire ( 2 laps), remaining 0″130 behind Carlos.

Charles Leclerc was third. The Monegasque, whose crash at the wall at Paul Ricard took him away from World Championship leader Max Verstappen, should be Carlos Sainz’s main rival for pole position on Saturday and for victory on Sunday, as he combines The Hungaroring shares many of the red car’s strengths. The Ferrari’s good traction and its good cornering on a track where Red Bull can’t squeeze its engine power could make the difference, but we’ll have to wait until Saturday.

For now, red bull is close to Maxalthough those are already known Milton Keynes they always show a little more engine power on Fridays than ferrari. In a turn, the Italians should be superior on Saturday. That is if it doesn’t rain, as the rain forecast is increasing, although at this point there is speculation that if it rains, qualifying could be postponed to the Sunday before the race.

Alonzo, 10th

Norris, with his modified McLaren, was 4th and overtook the Mercedes of George Russell (5th). Fernando Alonso finished 10th in his Alpine in the first free practice sessions of the F1 Hungarian GPbehind a Perez (6th) to be improved, hamilton (7th) Ricciardo (8) and his companion Esteban Or with (9th) in a central place where Alpine it seems to start a few steps behind McLaren, which is on par with Mercedes. Ocon and Alonso they stayed 5 tenths off Ricciardo’s best time (9th), last of that group from 5th to 9th place.

There seems to be room for improvement in the Alpine, as Fernando saw that he applied set-up changes late in the session and should not have finished comfortably, based on the off-track he suffered, without consequences, in one of his Last attempts, which had to be aborted. The man from Oviedo did not have a good Friday in the previous race in France and then Alpine and the rider managed to turn him around. Fernando will continue that goal from Free Practice 2.