Aston Martin’s heavily upgraded car suffered a suspected suspension failure which spun Lance Stroll off track, as Ferrari Charles Leclerc set an impressive pace for Ferrari before running into his own technical trouble, during a highly eventful first practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Leclerc outpaced Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton by half a second in a flying start to the Hungaroring weekend for the Monegasque driver with a best lap of 1:19.075.
But Leclerc’s session ended seven minutes early when he had to stop at the top of the pit lane after reporting that “something broke” on his SF-26 car.
Aston Martin, meanwhile, revealed 16 separate aerodynamic upgrades on their AMR26 car in their long-awaited first upgrade of a season which has hitherto seen them run at the back of the field.
But Stroll’s session lasted just 11 laps after a suspected rear suspension failure pitched him off the road in a high-speed spin at Turn Three.
Fernando Alonso, was, however, able to complete the session without apparent problem in the sister car, completing 20 laps and finishing a promising 13th fastest – 2.4 seconds off the pace. Aston Martin’s deficit to the front has regularly been between three and four seconds in qualifying at recent events amid a lack of updates.
George Russell was fifth fastest, almost a second slower than Leclerc, in a session world championship-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli sat out so Mercedes could give another P1 outing to Fred Vesti as part of the mandatory young driver requirements for the season.
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Max Verstappen fumes at Carlos Sainz after dangerously blocking his quick lap
Verstappen and Williams’ Carlos Sainz must head to the stewards after the session both charged with driving erratically following an incident early in the session when the latter first got in the Red Bull’s way.
More to follow…
Sky Sports F1’s Hungarian GP schedule
Friday July 24
3.45pm: Hungarian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 Show
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The first lap of the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix saw several drivers crash into one another
Saturday July 25
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint*
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: HUNGARIAN GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday July 26
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Hungarian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Hungarian GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
5pm: Ted’s Notebook*
*Also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 heads straight to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix with every session live on Sky Sports F1 from this Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
