FP3: Norris leads Piastri in McLaren one-two during final practice in Hungary

Lando Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri formed a McLaren one-two at the top of the timesheets during third and final practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the pair leading the way from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

After some disrupted running in Friday’s second practice hour – due to Charles Leclerc hitting the barriers and triggering the red flags – the drivers returned to action for FP3 at 1230 local time, a session providing their last opportunity to prepare ahead of qualifying later in the day.

PRACTICE DEBRIEF: Are McLaren and Norris favourites for the Hungary win after topping FP2 in Budapest?

During a quiet start to proceedings amid temperatures reaching 27 degrees Celsius – making it a marginally cooler day than Friday – Verstappen was one of the first to put a timed lap on the board, though the Dutchman reported experiencing some understeer whilst also lacking rear grip in the RB20.

The action picked up as the clock ticked down to the final 40 minutes, with the Hungaroring becoming increasingly busy as many drivers headed out on the soft tyre for their flying laps. Off the back of topping FP2 yesterday, Norris had gone fastest by the halfway point thanks to his effort of 1m 16.931s.

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, meanwhile, caught the eye by slotting into second and third respectively after those runs as the track continued to ramp up. Elsewhere, Carlos Sainz suffered a bit of a wobble through Turn 4, the same area of the circuit where team mate Leclerc took too much kerb and spun off on Friday.

The Red Bull and Aston Martin cars looked to be running different tyre strategies to the rest of the pack, with both opting to save the soft compound for later in the session. As the hour progressed and the times tumbled during the second run of fast laps, Mercedes were displaced at the top by a flying Norris on a time of 1m 16.098s, nearly half a second clear of George Russell.

HIGHLIGHTS: Enjoy the Hungaroring FP2 action as Norris goes quickest for McLaren while Leclerc crashes out

Piastri was also looking quick but could not quite match his team mate’s time, with his lap 0.044s behind Norris, while Verstappen’s first lap on the softs did not go entirely smoothly which put him in third place. The Red Bull driver also went wide on his final outing.

Russell took fourth for the Silver Arrows, ahead of Sainz in fifth and Ricciardo in sixth. Alex Albon enjoyed a promising outing for Williams to go seventh, from the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in eighth.

Tsunoda claimed P9 in a decent session for RB, while Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-10. The seven-time world champion briefly sparked the yellow flags in the final minutes after losing the rear of his W15 into Turn 9 and suffering a spin, before then getting going again.

Leclerc could only manage P11 upon his return to action after missing most of FP2, ahead of the Kick Sauber of Valtteri Bottas in P12 and Sergio Perez just P13 for Red Bull, despite the Mexican showing good pace on Friday.

WATCH: Ride onboard with Lando Norris for the fastest lap of Friday in Budapest

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were 14th and 15th respectively for Aston Martin, while Logan Sargeant in the Williams, Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly for Alpine, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon rounded out the order.

Attentions will now turn to qualifying, which is set to take place later today at 1600 local time. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.