Charles Leclerc got the session off to a strong start by setting the early mark on the medium tyre with a lightning-quick lap of 1 minute, 18.911 seconds, and leading teammate Carlos Sainz by 0.481 seconds. After 20 minutes of racing in FP2, the drivers started to stream onto the track with soft tyres and limited fuel for the recurring qualifying simulations on Friday afternoon.
The early challenge was set by Lando Norris, who also established the fastest first sector on his route to recording a time of 1 minute, 18.662 seconds. Leclerc swiftly outpaced the McLaren racer. The top four were separated by just 0.283 seconds. Sainz finished the session with the third-fastest time, ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen in fourth.
Daniel Ricciardo, who won the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2014, finished fifth, little over two tenths behind his teammate, and Fernando Alonso, who also won the race at the Hungaroring, finished sixth in his Alpine.
George Russell was eighth fastest, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who finished seventh fastest in the upgraded Aston Martin. The Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10 in his first practise of the day after being substituted by Robert Kubica in FP1. Sergio Perez, driving the second Red Bull, dropped down in ninth.
Although he did see traffic on a faster lap, eight-time Budapest winner Lewis Hamilton was down in 11th, trapped between the two Alfa Romeo drivers, with Zhou Guanyu in 12th. Lance Stroll came in at 14th, over half a second behind his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon, who came in at 13th. Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, driving an AlphaTauri, came in at 15th and 19th, respectively.
Kevin Magnussen, driving the upgraded Haas, finished between those two in 16th place, ahead of teammate Mick Schumacher in 17th, and Nicholas Latifi, driving the lead Williams, finished in 18th place. Alex Albon dropped to 20th after his qualifying drive was cut short by a spin at Turn 1 and he also had oversteer issues.
