Lewis Hamilton braced for ‘tough weekend’ at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton said he is braced for a tough weekend after he finished a distant 11th in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

As Charles Leclerc attempted to put his catastrophic crash in France behind him by racing to the top of the timesheets, Hamilton ended the day 1.1 seconds adrift of the Ferrari driver.

On an encouraging afternoon for McLaren, Britain’s Lando Norris took second with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third and world champion Max Verstappen fourth.

Mercedes secured their best result of a painful season at last weekend’s French Grand Prix, with Hamilton second and team-mate George Russell third.

But the silver cars were off the pace at a scorching hot Hungaroring – the venue for Formula One’s final race before the summer break – with both drivers complaining.

“How far off are we?” asked Hamilton, after completing his opening lap on the medium rubber.

“So, currently, P8, 1.9 sec to Leclerc in P1,” replied his race engineer, Peter Bonnington.

“1.9 to the same tyre?” was Hamilton’s disbelieving response.

Later, Hamilton called his machine “unstable” after he ran off the asphalt at Turn 4.

Hamilton has won a record eight times at the Hungaroring, but the British driver is facing an improbable task of adding to that tally considering Mercedes’ problems here.

“The car has been a bit of a struggle today,” he said. “It is crazy how it swings so much from track to track. But we have to try and figure out how we can get the car working.

“At the moment, it is a little bit loose and it is not doing what we want it to do so it has been a difficult day.

“Nothing has changed on the car since last week. I am the same driver this week as I was then, but for some reason, it is not working as well at this track.

“It is going to