Prior to qualifying for the 20223 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time during the final hour of practice. The Mercedes driver edged out Max Verstappen, who was leading the Drivers’ Championship, by more than two-tenths of a second. Sergio Pérez, the Red Bull driver’s teammate, came in third.
The Alternative Tyre Allocation, which demands teams to utilize a Hard tire in Q1, a Medium tire in Q2, and a Soft tire in Q3, was due to make its debut in Qualifying at the Hungaroring, therefore there was plenty of activity throughout FP3.
Verstappen set the early pace with a lap of 1:18.478 on new Medium tires, following rather cautious early laps from Kevin Magnussen of Haas and Daniel Ricciardo of AlphaTauri. Despite several drivers using Soft tires, including Oscar Piastri of McLaren, whose time of 1:18.949 placed him third behind Pérez, the Dutchman’s time on the yellow-banded tire remained the fastest for a while. Then, on brand-new Soft tires, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu of Alfa Romeo defeated the Red Bulls, with Bottas finishing just a hundredth of a second slower than Verstappen’s Medium tyre record.
Up until well into the second half of the day, the Dutchman’s opening lap served as the standard, but Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin eventually found enough speed on fresh Soft tires to pass the champion. The experienced Spaniard stopped the clock 0.128 seconds ahead of Verstappen, at 1:18.350.
Then, Lando Norris defeated Fernando Alonso, outpacing the Aston Martin by almost three-tenths of a second while driving a McLaren.
Hamilton and another Mercedes driver George Russell started the session on Soft tires as it neared its final quarter. Russell took third, but Hamilton, who had discovered more speed, jumped to the top of the standings with a lap time of 1: 17.811.
Verstappen immediately slapped on a fresh set of Softs, but he was unable to take advantage of them, as his best run on the red-banded tires left him 0.250 seconds behind the seven-time winner. Pérez started the race in third place, 0.013 seconds behind his teammate, although he later closed the gap to 0.006 seconds.
Just 0.010 seconds behind Pérez, Hülkenberg put together a strong lap to move up to fourth, while Norris’s lap propelled him ahead of Russell into fifth.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, two Ferrari drivers, spent the majority of the practice on lengthier medium-tire laps, but in the closing stages of the session, they engaged in performance runs, placing Leclerc sixth and Sainz seventh. Alonso dropped to ninth place at the end of the hour following his stay in P1 in the middle of the session, and Bottas completed the top 10 in sixth place, six-tenths behind Hamilton.
2023 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:17.811 20 202.691
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:18.061 0.250 23 202.041
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing 1:18.067 0.256 25 202.026
4 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:18.077 0.266 21 202.000
5 Lando Norris McLaren 1:18.082 0.271 19 201.987
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:18.119 0.308 22 201.891
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:18.190 0.379 28 201.708
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:18.234 0.423 29 201.595
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:18.350 0.539 20 201.296
10 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:18.489 0.678 24 200.940
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:18.536 0.725 20 200.820
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:18.544 0.733 23 200.799
13 Alexander Albon Williams 1:18.592 0.781 17 200.676
14 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:18.598 0.787 19 200.661
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:18.649 0.838 26 200.531
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:18.776 0.965 22 200.208
17 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:18.814 1.003 16 200.111
18 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri 1:18.828 1.017 28 200.076
19 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:18.979 1.168 22 199.693
20 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:19.156 1.345 29 199.247