Hamilton urges Ferrari to find more pace despite strong Friday showing

Lewis Hamilton has called for further improvements from Ferrari, even after the team demonstrated impressive speed during Friday's practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Scuderia sent a clear message to their rivals, with Charles Leclerc setting the fastest time in the first practice session.

Hamilton, who was third in FP1, then led a Ferrari one-two in the second session, showcasing formidable single-lap and long-run pace.

Lando Norris was the closest competitor in FP2, his upgraded McLaren nearly half a second behind Hamilton.

Mercedes driver George Russell finished fifth in both sessions, while his teammate Kimi Antonelli, who only participated in FP2, ended up 13th after failing to set a competitive lap time.

Despite the encouraging performance, Hamilton was quick to temper expectations, stating that Ferrari still has work to do before Saturday's qualifying.

"It was a solid day overall," Hamilton told the media as per GP Blog.

"The conditions were quite challenging, with the wind making things a bit tricky and the track feeling quite bumpy in some places."

"The car felt better in FP2 and we made some good progress between the sessions, although there are still a few areas we need to improve. We'll go through all the data overnight, keep working on the balance and hopefully find a bit more performance for tomorrow."

Meanwhile, George Russell admitted that Ferrari's strong showing confirmed Mercedes' pre-weekend fears about their rival's potential.

Reflecting on the day's running at the Hungaroring, Russell described the conditions as unusual for all teams.

"It was quite a strange day out there, I think, for everybody," he said.

"Budapest is an amazing track to drive, with a resurfaced half of the track. Super bumpy, a lot of it's breaking up around the last couple of corners, which is making it quite strange to drive on."

"Our single lap didn't look great, but long run looked more competitive. But, yeah, what we, I guess, potentially feared with Ferrari seemed to be the case. They looked very, very strong."