‘He just misjudged it’ – Christian Horner rues Sergio Perez practice crash, Max Verstappen misses top 10 at Hungarian GP

Christian Horner was left to rue a horrible crash from Sergio Perez in only the first lap of practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver misjudged a turning into the hairpin on Turn five, subsequently crashing into the wall as his outside wheels skidded on the grass.

It was an incident which had big ramifications for the remaining drivers, who were unable to utilise the dry conditions as rain began to fall when the damaged Red Bull car was recovered.

Horner said: “He just misjudged it. It was just a mistake. You could hear the frustration in his voice.”

The Mexican has endured a torrid time of late after failing to qualify in the top 10 for the last five successive races.

Any hopes of challenging team-mate Max Verstappen have failed to materialised in a dismal campaign to date.

Former Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo now seems to waiting in the wings to replace Perez, after returning to compete with their second team Alpha Tauri.

Elsewhere, Mercedes’ George Russell registered the fastest time in practice and was followed by Oscar Piastri of McLaren.

It looked like Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso would be the fastest, until electing to pit as the session drew to a close and the track conditions improved.

Carlos Sainz of Ferrari also made headlines for the wrong reasons after prompting a second red flag when he spun after coming out of turn three.

After a minor collision with the wall, he damaged the front wing and could not start the car himself after being left on the kerb.

The conditions also posed issues for Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, who damaged a front wing with a spin.

In total, just 11 drivers set lap times and did not include Verstappen or Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc set the pace in the second practice as the Ferrari driver just pipped McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Leclerc posted a best time of 1:17.686, just 0.015 seconds quicker than Norris.

Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon (Alpine) made up the remainder of the top five, while Verstappen was only 11th fastest.

Daniel Ricciardo, on his return to Formula 1 with Alpha Tauri, was 14th, four tenths slower than his new team-mate Tsunoda but four places ahead of Perez.

Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Russell were 16th and 20th respectively.