Sawt Falasteen - Hamilton tops times ahead of Leclerc in Ferrari 1-2 in Hungary

The four-time champion, who could become the first driver to claim 10 pole positions at the same circuit, clocked a best lap time of one minute and 18.729 seconds to beat Leclerc by 0.148 seconds.

World champion Lando Norris, who won at the Hungaroring last year, was third for McLaren, but adrift by half a second, ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull and George Russell in a Mercedes.

Hamilton has a career record 104 poles and will hope on Saturday to repeat his last qualifying success which was in Hungary in 2023. He is second in the drivers' championship, 45 points behind Kimi Antonelli.

On a hot, dry day with a gusting wind, Isack Hadjar was sixth in the second Red Bull ahead of Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls, Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren and Nico Hulkenberg of Audi.

Racing Bulls' rookie Arvid Lindblad was 10th while Antonelli struggled to 13th in his Mercedes after sitting out opening practice earlier when the team gave his car to their test and reserve driver.

Struggling Aston Martin's two-time champion Fernando Alonso was 19th in his heavily-updated car but his team-mate Lance Stroll missed the session following a suspension failure in FP1.

The team had introduced virtually new cars carrying 16 upgrades for Stroll and Alonso with an engine upgrade to follow after the summer break.

Franco Colapinto was first to clock a lap time, before Leclerc and then Hamilton took command for Ferrari, the Briton lapping in 1:19.648 as Antonelli completed his first lap to go eighth.

His team-mate Russell reported poor balance, complaining that "it feels dreadful, like the car is out of balance" as he went fourth, before Antonelli said he had "almost spun twice -– what's going on?"

With 20 minutes gone, Hamilton had improved to 1:19.585 to lead Leclerc by a tenth with Verstappen third ahead of Russell and Antonelli. The Dutchman reported that he was troubled by his seat.

Norris took to softs after 25 minutes and went top in 1:19.228 followed by Verstappen, two-tenths adrift before Colapinto spun and crashed at the final corner to prompt a red flag. The Argentinian was unhurt.

Action resumed after six minutes with Antonelli struggling and running off at the chicane while Leclerc and Hamilton regained the initiative in 1:18.877 and 1:18.914 respectively -– 0.351 ahead of Norris in third.

Hamilton then improved to go top with 15 minutes remaining as a frustrated Antonelli floundered and locked up at turn two in a cloud of dust.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST