Leclerc heads day one of Budapest test for Ferrari

F2 championship leader Charles Leclerc clocked the quickest time for Ferrari at a very hot Hungaroring on Tuesday, as this week’s two-day in-season test got underway. With ambient temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius, a late improvement from Leclerc saw him pip McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne on his first outing in 2017 F1 machinery.

Valtteri Bottas was third on the timesheet, carrying out tyre work for Pirelli. Mercedes’ team programme was conducted by their junior driver George Russell. Like Bottas, the GP3 racer racked up over 100 laps on his way to the fourth-best time.

Lance Stroll put Williams fifth, while at Force India test driver Nikita Mazepin and DTM star Lucas Auer – making his F1 debut – shared wheel time as they went sixth and ninth respectively, split by Renault tester Nicholas Latifi and Indonesian F2 racer Sean Gelael for Toro Rosso.

Haas’s American test driver Santino Ferrucci put the American squad tenth, while Max Verstappen was a modest 11th for Red Bull, the Dutchman having lost much of the morning session to technical problems on his RB13.

Completing the timesheet was F2 racer Gustav Malja, the Swede finishing 12th on his F1 debut with Sauber.

Testing continues on Wednesday when all eyes will be on Renault, as former Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica gets his first experience of a contemporary Formula 1 car. For more details on the full driver line-up, click here.

Tuesday's unofficial test times in full: