{"id":823039,"date":"2026-07-25T13:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T13:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/823039\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T13:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T13:58:07","slug":"fp3-norris-edges-out-hamilton-and-antonelli-during-tight-final-practice-session-in-hungary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/823039\/","title":{"rendered":"FP3: Norris edges out Hamilton and Antonelli during tight final practice session in Hungary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">McLaren driver Lando Norris set the pace during Saturday\u2019s third practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, leading the way from Ferrari rival Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Norris worked his way down to a best time of 1m 17.939s amid typically hot conditions at the Hungaroring, finishing just over a tenth up on Hamilton and Antonelli \u2013 as drivers geared up for Qualifying later today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">When the session kicked off at 1230 local time, Alpine\u2019s Franco Colapinto was the first man to head out on track, having lost valuable running on Friday when he ran wide at the final corner and slid into the barriers \u2013 causing plenty of car damage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Lance Stroll also emerged from the pits early on, after spinning out of FP1 with a suspension issue and then missing the entirety of FP2, as the Canadian looked to join team mate Fernando Alonso in gaining an understanding of <a class=\"text-brand-hot-red underline decoration-1 hover:decoration-[3px]\" data-f1rd-a7s-click=\"rich_text_atom_click\" data-f1rd-a7s-context=\"eyJhY3Rpb25UeXBlIjoidGhlX2hlYXZpbHlfdXBkYXRlZF9hc3Rvbl9tYXJ0aW5fbGlua19jbGlja2VkIiwiY2xpY2tUZXh0Ijp0cnVlLCJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZm9ybXVsYTEuY29tL2VuL2xhdGVzdC9hcnRpY2xlL2Fsb25zby1kZXNjcmliZXMtbXVjaC1iZXR0ZXItZmVlbGluZy1mcm9tLXVwZ3JhZGVkLWFzdG9uLW1hcnRpbi13aXRoLW1vcmUtcG90ZW50aWFsLXRvLXVubG9jay4zWm1GRm9yVWh5cXYwSEdaTEI0UE5sIiwicGF0aFR5cGUiOiJpbnRlcm5hbCJ9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/latest\/article\/alonso-describes-much-better-feeling-from-upgraded-aston-martin-with-more-potential-to-unlock.3ZmFForUhyqv0HGZLB4PNl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the heavily updated Aston Martin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">While more cars gradually filtered out, one driver going nowhere was Arvid Lindblad, whose Racing Bulls machine sat up on jacks amid an apparent power unit issue \u2013 the team having broken the paddock curfew overnight to fix a similar problem on Liam Lawson\u2019s car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Around a third of the way into the session, with the likes of Antonelli, George Russell and Max Verstappen yet to appear, Norris led the way for McLaren via a 1m 19.062s on soft tyres, a couple of tenths quicker than Red Bull\u2019s Isack Hadjar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">However, just as the timesheets were lighting up with more personal best laps, Sergio Perez hit trouble exiting the pit lane, ground to a halt on the approach to Turn 2 and brought out the red flags. \u201cI lost the engine; I had a massive brake,\u201d said the Cadillac driver. \u201cIt looks like the brakes are on fire at the back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">With the track cleared and Perez transported back to the pits, the FP3 action resumed at 1256, leaving just over half an hour for drivers to pick up their practice programmes and make some final observations ahead of the all-important Qualifying hour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Antonelli, Russell and Verstappen finally hit the track at this point, with the Briton\u2019s first lap putting him second to Norris, the Dutchman going fifth behind team mate Hadjar and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, and the Italian provisionally slotting into sixth before losing his lap time for exceeding track limits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">It was all change a few minutes later, though, when Hamilton pumped in a 1m 19.053s to go P1 for the Scuderia, team mate Leclerc went even faster on a 1m 18.668s, and Antonelli then slotted between the pair of them \u2013 before requesting a check of his Mercedes\u2019 floor, which had thumped the Turn 4 kerb.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Heading into the final 15 minutes of the session, championship leader Antonelli made another move, producing a time of 1m 18.254s and taking over at the top, only for Norris and his upgraded McLaren to edge back in front with a 1m 18.206s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Hamilton had looked set to make it a practice clean sweep for Ferrari by improving to a 1m 18.056s, but Norris went again \u2013 and this time avoided a slide through the final corner \u2013 to wind up with an eye-catching benchmark time of 1m 17.939s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Antonelli placed third, ahead of Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, with Russell back in sixth (six-tenths off the pace), and the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Hadjar taking P7 and P8 respectively \u2013 the latter reporting an \u201cundriveable\u201d experience late on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Lawson placed an encouraging ninth for Racing Bulls, followed by the Audis of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, while the other VCARB 03 of Lindblad made it out in the closing stages to split the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Colapinto.<\/p>\n<p class=\"typography-module_body-s-regular__ul7F5 typography-module_md_body-m-regular__d9VRg typography-module_lg_body-l-regular__dPa5z\">Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman were next up, as the revised Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll (who at one stage came close to making contact), Cadillac\u2019s Valtteri Bottas and Williams pair Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon brought up the rear, ahead of the sidelined Perez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McLaren driver Lando Norris set the pace during Saturday\u2019s third practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, leading&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-823039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}