Sebastian Vettel remains the man to beat heading into qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix after setting the quickest time during final practice.

The German moved straight to the top of the timesheets with his first timed lap of the one-hour session on Saturday before Valtteri Bottas, in an improved Mercedes, would beat him with the first of his low fuel runs towards the end.

Vettel wouldn't be behind for long though, as he went back out and posted a 1m16.170s on the Ultrasoft tyre to lead the Finn by just over half a tenth.

The difference is in the first and last sector for the Ferrari driver, with over four-tenths advantage in the stretch to Turn 4 where most of the straights are around the Hungaroring track.

Also, his initial best in the fairly simple final sector was untouched with perhaps a hint that Vettel backed out a little when he set his overall best time.

Mercedes are back in the game though with Bottas the fastest man in the middle sector in second. However, the balance of the W09 does still appear on a knife edge with Lewis Hamilton still struggling with oversteer in fourth.

Both drivers would also spin through the slow chicane at Turns 6 and 7, with Valtteri sliding into the barrier on the outside but emerging with only some damaged rims.

The main disappointment was Red Bull as their pace from Friday has seemingly vanished with Max Verstappen three-quarters of a second slower in fifth and teammate Daniel Ricciardo a further two-tenths back in sixth.

It is in that first sector where almost all of the time is being lost to those ahead but now nothing is being gained through the twisty second and third parts of the lap.

A main story of the session was traffic, with drivers backing up before the final corner but also at other areas around the track with Verstappen and Charles Leclerc having a moment at Turn 1 and Ricciardo narrowly avoiding Kevin Magnussen's Haas as he dawdled through Turn 3.

Track limits at Turn 5 is also becoming more of an issue, with some drivers running completing off the track on the exit of the long right-hander. It is possible the FIA will be tracking cars that do so in qualifying to consider if they gain an advantage.

In the midfield, Renault emerged as the 'best of the rest' with Carlos Sainz ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in seventh and eighth.

It remains tight with Haas, however, with Romain Grosjean just 0.001s behind the German in ninth and Pierre Gasly continuing his strong weekend in P10 for Toro Rosso, just half a tenth further back.

Sauber, McLaren, Force India and Williams look set for a battle to decide the positions in Q1 as the four teams filled the final eight places.

Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso continued their season-long battle with the Monegasque just ahead of the Spaniard in 13th.

Esteban Ocon sat in 15th for the Silverstone-based team, which it was confirmed entered administration on Friday, completing the would be Q2 order in qualifying.

Sergey Sirotkin was P16 ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne with Marcus Ericsson, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll completing the timesheet.

The full results from Practice 3 can be seen below:

While pleased to have topped the times in practice, Sebastian Vettel admits doing so again in qualifying will be crucial to his victory chances at the Hungarian GP.

The Ferrari driver is not hanging around this weekend as the usually subdued performance of the Scuderia on a Friday was replaced by the four-time world champion finishing second and first in the two sessions.

Much of that is because of his determination to put the events of last Sunday at Hockenheim behind him, after crashing out from the lead in damp conditions, and Vettel acknowledged that winning in Budapest would be a big boost mentally.

“It is probably good to have a race straight away to get your head away and focus on the next thing to do,” the 31-year-old said.

“I hope we can cancel it out and make this race count and then forget properly.”

Reflecting on the performance of his car in practice, Vettel was satisfied with what he felt behind the wheel of the SF71-H.

“I was pretty happy in the afternoon, happier than in the morning and I think the car is pretty good for one lap,” he stated.

“We can still improve but it has been one of the better Fridays. Obviously they have been a bit up and down for us lately, so today was quite solid.”

And it is the single lap pace which the four-time world champion considers most important, as he hopes the pace of the Ferrari in the first sector is enough to counteract Red Bull's strength in the second and third.

“I think that qualifying and the start are very important here because overtaking is very difficult,” he continued.

“Whoever is ahead after the first couple of corners, that will be crucial, but to get there, there is a lot of things to do, a lot of work ahead.”

Friday also marked the first time Vettel has spoken to the media since the sudden death of Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne earlier this week, with the Italian team excused from speaking to reporters on Thursday.

Commenting on the atmosphere within the team, who are all wearing black armbands and have flags at half-mast as a sign of respect, Seb believes everyone is trying to stick to business as usual.

“I think it is probably best to get in the car then everybody knows what to do,” Vettel said.

“Obviously not easy, but I think today the work has been okay and I think that having a lot of work in front of you is probably best to get your head away and focus on the job you have to do here.”

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has strongly rebuffed claims by McLaren that Toro Rosso technical director James Key will be moving from Faenza to Woking.

Earlier this week, the British squad had confirmed that would be signing Key to their technical team with only negotiations required to determine the period of gardening leave he would serve.

However, first team principal Franz Tost reiterated that the respected engineer had a valid contract with the junior Red Bull and now the outspoken Marko claims if McLaren wants Key they'll have to be patient

“He has a long-term contract with Toro Rosso,” the Austrian told Motorsport.com.

“We had a discussion with [CEO] Zak [Brown], and instead of coming back to us, there was a press release done. So we’ll stick to the contract, and McLaren will have to wait for quite a long time.”

It is understood Key's contract runs until the end of 2020 and Marko has even suggested that the actions of McLaren could have ramifications.

“We have to analyse the whole situation. As McLaren is making press announcements, we have to look seriously at the legal situation,” he said.

“But it’s sure we won’t release him earlier.”

It has been suggested that junior driver Lando Norris could be a bargaining chip in any talks, with Toro Rosso reportedly approaching the 19-year-old before the Canadian GP and keen to sign him for 2019.

“I think they will come to us," Tost said about any talks between the two teams

“I have no reason to discuss it with them because we have a contract. Everything has been said.”

Sebastian Vettel finally put a clean lap together without traffic or error to claim top spot ahead of the two Red Bulls in second practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.

The German would find a massive 1.4 seconds in lap time between the Soft and the UltraSoft compound as he moved to within just a few hundredths of his pole lap record from last year with a 1m16.834s.

Unsurprisingly it was in the first sector, where most of the straights are that the Ferrari would have the advantage over the Red Bull with Max Verstappen unable to make up the four-tenths deficit throughout the rest of the lap and finishing just 0.074s behind in second.

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo admitted there was still time on the table as he struggled a little with the set-up in third, a quarter of a second off his former teammate.

Kimi Raikkonen's quiet day continued in fourth as the two Mercedes' failed to set a lap time on the Ultrasoft compound as Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas both overheated their rear tyres which led to mistakes in the final sector.

Their pace on the Soft compound early in the session was competitive, however, so if solutions can be found to their woes on the purple tyre then perhaps they can be right in the frame.

Once again it was the heat that was a key factor, however, for the end of session race simulations cloud cover from a nearby thunderstorm saw a dramatic reduction in temperatures which prevented teams from gathering exact data from the tyres in the hot conditions expected on Sunday.

The lack of grip on the track, which sat at 60 degrees Celsius according to Sergio Perez but was recorded several degrees cooler also meant there was still several mistakes with drivers locking up and spinning off.

Marcus Ericsson would have his third off of the day early in the session while Stoffel Vandoorne would have the most spectacular, losing the rear after touching the grass on the approach to Turn 5.

Also Read:

• Hungarian GP: Ricciardo pips Vettel in Practice 1

In the midfield, four different teams claimed the final four places inside the top 10 but it was still Haas vs. Renault for 'best of the rest' with Romain Grosjean leading Carlos Sainz by four-tenths in P7.

Having last scored points around the twisty confines of Monaco, Pierre Gasly raised Toro Rosso's hopes in P9 with Esteban Ocon completing the would-be Q3 order in qualifying in P10 for Force India.

The Frenchman's teammate Sergio Perez would follow in 11th ahead of Fernando Alonso in the McLaren, almost a second faster than his partner Stoffel Vandoorne in 19th as the Belgian's problems continue.

Kevin Magnussen suffered from engine cut-outs from his new Ferrari unit during the session and would some eight-tenths down on teammate Grosjean in 13th as Nico Hulkenberg made up for the battery problem from Practice 1 in 14th.

Brendon Hartley was 15th with the two Sauber's struggling for pace as Ericsson, who was also unsafely released from his pit-box earning his team a fine, and Charles Leclerc sat a tenth apart in 16th and 17th.

The two Williams' would round out the grid with Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin either side of Vandoorne's McLaren in 18th and 20th respectively.

Force India have entered administration following a court claim by both Sergio Perez and Mercedes that the team would not be able to pay off debts totalling £12m to them.

The Silverstone-based outfit has been struggling financially all season, as the legal troubles of embattled owner Vijay Mallya continue and the Indian businessman waits what he considers a worthy takeover offer.

Rumours had claimed Lawrence Stroll, father of Williams driver Lance, would step in but only after the company had entered administration, with that now the case following a court order on Friday, which was confirmed by deputy team boss Bob Fernley to Reuters.

It is understood that Perez was the catalyst for the action by putting in a claim for a reported £3m in unpaid wages and later engine supplier Mercedes joined the suit with a figure of £9m in unpaid bills mentioned.

Earlier in the week, the Mexican had spoken about the problems within Force India, painting a dire picture.

“At the moment the situation is critical,” he also told Reuters. “There’s no secret that the financial problems have held the team back quite a bit.

“When you look at the results, because F1 is just about the results, we are fifth in the Constructors’ Championship and you cannot imagine the financial issues we’ve had so far.

“It just shows the potential this team has.”

On Friday, COO Otmar Szafnauer also admitted movement was going on behind the scenes but made it clear he expected the situation to only last two weeks before a new injection of investment would secure Force India's future.

“Hopefully that will be solved soon and we’ll get back to operating in the normal manner we’re used to," he added.

“In this critical period, which might last a week or two, we’ve got to get our heads down and do the best we can here and enjoy our break after the test and come back fighting thereafter.”

Now, Dmitry Mazepin, father of GP3 driver and former Force India development driver Nikita, is the name being mentioned as a potential investor with RaceFans.net claiming "intensive discussions" have been taking place.

The Russian billionaire is believed not to be interested in taking over the team though, rather he just wants to help Mallya out of his current situation.

Daniel Ricciardo proved Red Bull will be tough to beat as he posted the quickest time in first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.

The Australian would set a 1m17.613s on his second flying lap using the Soft compound tyre to beat Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari by 0.079s, with the German using the Ultrasoft rubber which is two steps softer.

Traffic potentially hampered Vettel too but even so, Max Verstappen backed up Red Bull's pace in third, just 0.009s slower than Sebastian also on the yellow-marked Soft Pirelli compound.

Kimi Raikkonen was a third of a second back in fourth as Mercedes had a difficult start to the weekend with Lewis Hamilton struggling for grip in fifth and Valtteri Bottas having to return to the pits after flat-spotting his tyres soon after fitting them, leaving him down in sixth.

Lock-ups and spins were a feature of the session, as drivers got the grips with the always dusty Hungaroring circuit on a Friday morning. Turn 1 was a key action spot with Bottas and Sauber reserve Antonio Giovinazzi ruining their tyres under braking and Max Verstappen would spin on the exit after running a little too wide.

Marcus Ericsson was another with several incidents, including a spin after touching the grass approaching the final corner and another later at Turn 4, forcing the Swede back the pits.

In the midfield, the battle looks set to be between Haas and Renault once again with Romain Grosjean moving into P7 late on as the American team looks to continue their run of being 'best of the rest'.

Nico Hulkenberg would be eighth for the French manufacturer, that despite pulling off an hour into the session after his car shut down.

The German's teammate Carlos Sainz would be ninth as the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10.

Hungaroring's lack of power-sensitivity could also give the junior Red Bull team Toro Rosso a chance for a better weekend, as highlighted by Pierre Gasly in 11th.

McLaren similarly is hoping to capitalise on a circuit which has been kind to them in recent years, although only P12 for Fernando Alonso is probably lower than they were hoping for.

Lance Stroll put his Williams in 14th, as the Grove-based squad looks to continue the progress made at Hockenheim as Force India struggled with Esteban Ocon 15th and Sergio Perez 17th.

Giovinazzi, making his second Friday appearance in as many weekends, continued to disappoint with some small errors although would be the lead Sauber in 18th with Sergey Sirtokin and Ericsson completing the timings.

A full look at the final results can be seen below:

Lewis Hamilton admits the struggles Mercedes had versus Ferrari and Red Bull were largely expected as the German manufacturer sat as the third best team in practice at the Hungarian GP.

The Briton along with the teammate Valtteri Bottas finished fifth and sixth in both sessions as they suffered from a lack of grip, particularly on the Ultrasoft tyre where errors in the final sector meant neither set a representative lap time in Practice 2.

Typically, the high downforce set-up combined with high temperatures have made this one of Mercedes' weaker tracks, with just one win during the turbo-hybrid era for Lewis Hamilton in 2016, and challenging for the victory this year currently looks a tall order.

“It has been a relatively normal day," the world champion claimed. "As we expected, the Ferraris and the Red Bulls were quite quick and had a little bit more pace than us, so we’ve got some work to do tonight.

“This is a tricky circuit and the tyres are overheating; looking after the rear tyres is the biggest issue.”

Still, as his victory last weekend from 14th on the grid at Hockenheim proved, anything is still possible and Hamilton is far from ready to give up.

“We will do our debrief now and dig deep to try and figure out what changes we make between now and tomorrow,” he added.

“I hope we’re able to find something tonight, and that tomorrow is dry so we can test whatever changes we make overnight.”

The additional power modes Mercedes and Ferrari have at their disposal for qualifying is still a concern for Red Bull though, and Bottas highlighted the importance of starting as high up the grid as possible.

“It is difficult to overtake here, so track position is very important and the less stops you can do is always going to be better,” he stated.

“Red Bull and Ferrari are as quick as we expected; I think it’s going to be very close.”

Outspoken former Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has taken aim at Lewis Hamilton, calling him out for over-dramatising his behaviour at the German GP.

The Mercedes driver has become increasingly known for his celebrity lifestyle and unique personality, perhaps not too dissimilar to the Canadian, with his bleached blonde hair and attempts at music after leaving the grid.

Hamilton's actions in recent weeks though have been even more emotional, from his post-race outburst at Silverstone to his actions after the low of a Q1 exit in qualifying and then winning at Hockenheim 24 hours later.

Villeneuve though, thinks it's all for the cameras.

"He confuses F1 with Hollywood. Everything he does is staged," he told Auto Bild.

"He portrays himself on social media like he is Jesus. The way he knelt next to his car after his problem in qualifying looked like the suffering of Christ and what he said afterwards was the Sermon on the Mount.

"Then [after winning] he gestured so dramatically on the podium that everyone could see who sent the sudden rain."

Standing by his driver though, Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff defending the 33-year-old and praised how he wasn't afraid to hide his feelings.

"I had a conversation with him about it [social media] on Sunday night and I think it is great that someone wears his heart on his sleeve," the Austrian said.

"He says things likes he means them. We are humans and have emotions and are influenced by what others say and what they say and you take things personally."

Also Read:

• Hamilton claims hostile Hockenheim atmosphere inspired him to victory
• Vettel plays down Hamilton's "human" reaction to Silverstone loss

Later on, Hamilton would post and then delete a story on Instagram criticising, without naming names, what he considered the persistent negativity of Sky Sports F1's ex-driver analysis, coming from none other than ex-teammate Nico Rosberg.

This after reports the four-time world champion also requested the German be taken off podium interview duties with David Coulthard taking over.

"Sometimes you let your guard down, and maybe such a moment is like on Sunday when you win a race you did not expect to win, and you let your guard down, and then you find yourself at home exuberant and unable to sleep and you put on the TV and hear a commentator saying negative stuff, that can get to you," Wolff claimed.

"But that makes him that special individual that we talk about all the time and is able to have a performance like he had in the rain in Germany.

"I mean, his performance when it started to get wet, how much faster was he? Four seconds a lap, albeit with a better tyre, but it was unbelievable.

"He could have won the race against Vettel without Vettel going off."

Daniel Ricciardo is worried Red Bull's hopes of victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix could be dashed by their continued lack of single-lap pace compared to Mercedes and Ferrari.

Around the twists and turns of the Hungaroring, the Milton Keynes outfit was equal to Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari in practice on Friday with Max Verstappen the only driver to join the German in the 1m16's.

However, it was the four-tenth deficit in the first sector, where the majority of the straights are, which has irked the Australian, particularly with the other top teams able to increase the power further in qualifying.

“Mercedes will find more on one lap, Ferrari already seems fast. They are probably the target everyone’s trying to chase,” Ricciardo said.

“Over one lap we didn’t execute it perfectly so I’m confident there are a few tenths in the package.”

With a race car that is more than a match for their rivals, it has always been the inability to start higher than fifth and sixth which has hurt Red Bull, and the 29-year-old is desperate to avoid a repeat on Saturday.

“I think even with a good race car, the first row is the one I want to qualify on, no doubt,” Ricciardo claimed.

“Second row wouldn’t be a disaster. [But] we don’t want to be on the third row. We don’t want to make too much work for ourselves.”

Asked what result he considers realistic, however...

“If we can execute a good lap tomorrow we can still be there, close enough. I’d love to say pole but I’d take a top three," he said. "With a faster car [in the race], we can win from there.”

What may help Red Bull's situation is Mercedes' inability to keep the Ultrasoft tyre within the right operating window during a lap, having suffered from overheating which equated to mistakes in the final sector in second practice.

"I am expecting them to be there tomorrow,” Verstappen commented.

“We look competitive of course with our car, but if it’s going to be enough to compensate that from the straight line losses here, I’m not sure.”

Respected Formula 1 designer James Key has left his position as technical director at Toro Rosso and is set to join McLaren following a period of gardening leave.

That is the claim of the BBC who add that the length of time between the Briton's departure from Faenza and arrival at Woking has yet to be confirmed as CEO Zak Brown continues his overhaul of the team's structure to turnaround the team's fortunes.

The news comes as there is talk Matt Morris, the engineering director at McLaren, has stepped down from his position leaving just Peter Prodromou in the technical team that was formerly headed by Eric Boullier.

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• McLaren CEO Brown wants to open up rigid operating structure
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Typically a period of gardening leave for an engineer when he switches teams is a year as their former employers are keen to minimise the usefulness of knowledge an engineer has of their car to their new colleagues.

In this case, however, it is thought that time could be reduced to just six months if McLaren agreed to lend junior driver Lando Norris as a replacement for Brendon Hartley, following the failure of an initial approach for the current F2 racer earlier this year.

As for the possible impact Key can have at Woking, the Briton is well-known for producing good cars including the 2012 Sauber which scored three podiums that season and was his last design for the Swiss team before joining the junior Red Bull team.