Luckless Charles Leclerc crashes Ferrari in Hungary as Norris tops practice

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc lost control and hit the barrier in the second session of practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

McLaren's Lando Norris topped practice, right in front of Max Verstappen, with the top lap times, while the Frenchman's teammate, Carlos Sainz was the third fastest.

After a promising first session, the luckless Leclerc gave Ferrari's mechanics extra work after he spun off and smacked the rear of his car into the barrier during the second hour-long session.

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The medical car was deployed due to the impact but Leclerc appeared unhurt.

He was whisked back to the garage while a crane lifted his damaged ride off the track before practiced resumed.

The session was red-flagged for 14 minutes.

"I touched the wall," he said.

In a closely-fought session, Norris clocked a best time of 1:17.788 to beat rival Verstappen, by 0.243 seconds.

"I don't care what people say," Norris responded when asked if he should be more ruthless on track.

"I'm a nice guy and I try to be respectful in every way I can, but that has zero relevance to what happens on the track. What happened 10 years, 15 or 20 years ago is completely different from today.

"If I wanted to, I could be a lot more of a jerk and act like an idiot, that kind of character, to make people think I'm ruthless, but I don't need to and I don't want to."

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, hoping to claim a record-increasing ninth Hungarian victory and complete a Mercedes hat-trick, was seventh ahead of RB's Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon of Williams and two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.

Mercedes has elbowed its way into the most tightly contested Formula 1 season since Max Verstappen wrested the mantle of serial winner from Hamilton in 2021.

Hamilton and Mercedes teammate George Russell have won back-to-back races; Russell was first in Austria and Hamilton surprisingly took the victory at Silverstone, and the team arrived this week at the Hungarian Grand Prix with renewed hope after a long spell of self-doubt.

Hamilton's win at the British GP was his first victory since the second-to-last race of 2021.

The British driver also knows better than anyone how to win on the Hungaroring's tight corners. He holds a record eight wins here, with his last triumph in 2020. He also took pole position on this track last year.

"It’s game on, we’re fighting, we’re chasing, and we’re going to try and win as many races or compete for as many wins as possible,” Hamilton said while preparing for the race weekend.

Hamilton stunned the series by announcing he was leaving for Ferrari in 2025. He has since insisted his focus is completely on making the most of his final months with Mercedes.

“We are united as a team, and we’re going to try and make sure we finish the season on a high."

With five different winners in the last seven races, it is clear that it is no longer a foregone conclusion that Red Bull will sweep up most of the victories.

Verstappen still commands a healthy lead on 255 points, with Norris in second with 171. But the Dutch driver is facing fast challengers from three different teams when you include Leclerc and Sainz.

Verstappen acknowledged that the gap between his car and the best of the rest has largely disappeared.

“The last few races we’ve not been the quickest car, so I don’t expect that to suddenly now be any different,” said Verstappen, who has won here the past two years.

“Of course we will bring upgrades, hopefully that will give it a good boost, but at the moment just want to try and see how that will work this weekend.”

Red Bull is under more pressure in the constructors’ championship, which combines the points taken from each team’s two drivers. Red Bull has 373 points, Ferrari 302, McLaren 295, and Mercedes 221.

That is largely due to the slump by Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said his poor performances were “unsustainable” after the Mexican driver finished 17th at the British GP two weeks ago.

“I’m the first one that is not satisfied with the past races, with the past results, and I’m the one that wants to get back to our top form. that’s the main objective for us this weekend,” Pérez said.

Norris has had a very fast car recently and has lamented not scoring a second career win after coming out on top at Miami in May. He was in the running for victory in Canada, Spain and Britain before coming up short.

“We’re still learning from these things,” Norris said. “It hurts, those tough times.”