Charles Leclerc moved to the top of the times with effectively his last lap on Tuesday, as the post-Hungarian GP test began at the Hungaroring.
The Formula 2 championship leader and Ferrari Academy member posted a 1:17.746s with two minutes left to dislodge the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne by less than a tenth of a second and did so using the yellow-marked soft compound tyres, compared to the Belgian’s time on the purple-marked ultrasoft. Leclerc would also complete 98 laps on the day as the Monegasque got his first taste of the 2017 Ferrari SF70-H.
As for Vandoorne, while the pace was good around a circuit the British team scored a double points result at on Sunday, reliability was mixed as an issue kept the former GP2 champion in the garage for some time in the afternoon.
Two Mercedes ran across the day as Valtteri Bottas conducted a 2018 tyre test and GP3 championship leader George Russell completed team duties. Together the two would amass 274 laps of the Hungaroring with the Finn achieving more than two full race distances in extreme temperatures to take third and the British youngster only half a second behind in terms of pace in fourth and falling just shy of 120 laps.
Lance Stroll took over driver duties at Williams from the ill Felipe Massa and managed the second highest driver lap total with 137 tours of the Hungaroring and the fifth best time as the Grove outfit looked to find solutions for the poor pace they have had since introducing a number of updates in Austria.
Two new names made their debuts with Force India with European F3 driver Nikita Mazepin and DTM driver Lucas Auer, who is also the nephew of former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger, splitting between the morning and afternoon. The Russian, driving in the morning, would post the sixth best time with Auer seven-tenths off the pace in ninth.
Recent F2 race winner and development driver Nicholas Latifi was seventh in the Renault with fellow competitor in the F1 feeder series, Sean Gelael, reaching the 100-lap mark and ending the day eighth in the Toro Rosso after some early issues.
Haas development driver Santino Ferrucci was 10th for the American team. Max Verstappen would have a troubled day in the Red Bull with just 58 laps and the 11th best time for the Dutchman as Gustav Malja completed the timesheets for Sauber with 108 laps under his belt.
An excellent first appearance for Leclerc as he continues to impress and put himself in the picture for a seat, likely at Sauber for 2018.
Now attention will switch to Wednesday and the much-awaited first public test of Robert Kubica in the Renault, the Pole was present in Budapest on Tuesday and his every turn is likely to be intently followed by many, with even Lewis Hamilton admitting a “keen” interest in his performance.
