Lewis Hamilton has a chance to pile pressure on Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes as the Formula 1 title race heads to Hungary, and there were promising signs Friday as Ferrari seemed to have the pace in practice. Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix eight times, making it his most successful event besides his home British Grand Prix. It’s a track where cornering ability, not raw power, tends to make the difference, which could suit his Ferrari. “I think we’ve got a car that can compete. Mercedes is still the car to beat, and they won’t be easy to beat this weekend, but I do think we’ve made subtle progress,” Hamilton said this week. “Hopefully we can be fighting with them this weekend.”

It certainly seemed that way as Ferrari topped Friday’s two practice sessions.

Hamilton set the fastest time of the day as he beat Leclerc by 0.148 of a second in the second session, with Lando Norris a distant third for McLaren, .499 away. George Russell was the best Mercedes in fifth and Antonelli only 13th in a session interrupted by a red flag when Franco Colapinto spun into a barrier.

In the first session, Leclerc went fastest by nearly half a second from Max Verstappen of Red Bull, with Hamilton a close third. Russell was fifth fastest in that session, too, while Antonelli sat out as the team worked toward its quota of practice sessions for non-regular drivers. Reserve Fred Vesti was seventh.