Nicholas Latifi set a benchmark for Williams in a waterlogged FP3 session in Hungary, leaving Charles Leclerc second by 0.661s, with the other Williams of Alex Albon third by 0.901s from his team-mate.
The late intermediate races in FP3 moved up the order, and Latifi’s impressive lap of 1m 41.480s put him more than six tenths ahead of Leclerc, who spun in the inters at the end, for the Canadian to lead a Formula 1 session for the first time in its course. career Albon finished third, leaving Max Verstappen fourth, eight tenths behind the Thai driver.
George Russell finished fifth for Mercedes, with both Silver Arrows finding tire warming particularly difficult in the soggy conditions. Torrential showers greeted the drivers at the start of the session, but subsided for riders to take intermediate laps at the end.
Fernando Alonso was the first driver to take intersections – pulling off an incredible stop and staying out of harm’s way – and finished sixth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Lando Norris finished eighth as the last of the top 10 to set his fastest lap in the stages, while Sebastian Vettel finished ninth, having crashed at Turn 10 to bring out a red flag with 10 minutes to go in the end.
Kevin Magnussen finished 10th for Haas ahead of Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time champion in the garage for much of the session with the team apparently looking at his engine. He set his lap in the intermediates, but Mick Schumacher’s benchmark, 12th, was set in the wet.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was 13th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), with the trio setting their fastest laps in the intermediates.
Next on the board was rookie Zhou Guanyu, just over a tenth ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, while Zhou’s Alfa Romeo team-mate finished 18th, albeit in the wet instead of interspersed
Pierre Gasly (on wet) finished 19th for AlphaTauri and Sergio Perez completed qualifying for Red Bull, six seconds off the pace as he and Hamilton (P10) completed just 11 laps each in FP3.
Hungarian GP FP3 2022: Fernando Alonso’s big stop in wet final practice