Pierre Gasly led the way in free-practice in Hungary half a second from Alex Lynn and Sergey Sirotkin.
Most drivers went out for one first out lap before pitting again. Championship leader, Oliver Rowland showed some early pace in the session but Pierre Gasly set a first very fast flying lap in 1:28.047 before beating last year’s pole position only twenty minutes into the session ahead of Norman Nato and Antonio Giovinazzi. Like in F1, drivers seemed to struggle to find the grid on the new asphalt.
With thirty minutes to go, Gasly was leading from Sergey Sirotkin and Raffaele Marciello. Halfway through the session, drivers started to go for race simulations. Sirotkin for example, suffered from a lot of oversteer like half of the field. Drivers also needed to get used to the trafic they would have to suffer from in qualifying as the Hungaroring has the slowest average speed of the season when qualifying is not split.
While Giovinazzi had been warned for track limits at T11, Sergio Canamasas was the first to spin at T12, fifteen minutes left on the clock. Only a few drivers could improve in the last moments of the session such as Canamasas, Ghiotto or Alex Lynn, upping himself to P2.
Pierre Gasly ended the session in the lead from Alex Lynn and Sergey Sirotkin. Marciello, Matsuthita, Nato, Rowland, Giovinazzi, Ghiotto and Canamasas completed the top 10.
