Hamilton calls for Ferrari improvement despite Friday's dominant showing

Charles Leclerc topped FP1, before Hamilton, who finished third in the first session, led a Ferrari 1-2 in FP2 as they showed strong single lap and race pace sending a message to their rivals including Mercedes.

The nearest challenger to Ferrari in FP2 was Lando Norris, who was just short of half a second back from Hamilton in his upgraded McLaren. George Russell was fifth in both sessions for Mercedes, while Kimi Antonelli only ran in FP2 where he was down in 13th after he was unable to put a competitive lap together.

Despite a positive day for Ferrari, Hamilton eased expectations, telling the media that Ferrari still need to make improvements ahead of Saturday's running.

He said: "It was a solid day overall. The conditions were quite challenging, with the wind making things a bit tricky and the track feeling quite bumpy in some places.

Russell, who is five points behind Hamilton in the championship and 50 behind his teammate Antonelli, said Friday's pace backed up fears the team had over Ferrari's potential pace this weekend.

Reflecting on Friday's running, Russell said: "It was quite a strange day out there, I think, for everybody. Budapest is an amazing track to drive, with a resurfaced half of the track. Super bumpy, a lot of it's breaking up around the last couple of corners, which is making it quite strange to drive on.