Aston Martin's rollercoaster 'new upgrade day' dominated the headlines at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday - so that means all the more reason to delve a little deeper in how the rest of the Formula 1 field fared.
Here are our pick of winners and losers from Friday at the Hungaroring.
Loser: Mercedes
Mercedes' position as a loser has to come with the caveat that Kimi Antonelli couldn't get a flying lap in on the softs when it counted in FP2, the most representative session.
However, the Ferraris and Max Verstappen in FP1/Lando Norris in FP2 have locked out the top three in both practice sessions; for Mercedes, George Russell was its top driver in both sessions in fifth.
Russell is unhappy with the Hungaroring's resurfacing, which is bumpy and interrupted braking zones, especially at Turn 1, while Antonelli sat out FP1 for Frederik Vesti and then fought rear-locking for most of FP2.
Mercedes has come back from similar days before to win, but this feels like a real uphil battle, especially given Verstappen's form at the last slow-speed circuit similar to this, in Monaco, where he qualified on the front row of the grid. - Jack Benyon
Winner: Ferrari
Charles Leclerc topped FP1 before Lewis Hamilton topped FP2, and Ferrari seems well set for the weekend ahead.
Mercedes' George Russell felt that Ferrari is the team to beat, "a good step ahead of everyone".
Fred Vasseur's summary of Friday in Hungary was "so far, so good", with the team having also brought upgrades to Hungary.
Yet he quipped that this place doesn't offer any more points than Silverstone or Spa, and pointed to the elephant in the room: Ferrari must first ace qualifying - something it hasn't yet been able to do in 2026 - around the narrow confines of the Hungaroring. - Samarth Kanal
Loser: Lance Stroll
Aston Martin gets what this year feels like a customary spot in our losers section, but this one's slightly different.
Stroll can only end up here; not for anything he did wrong, simply for the track time lost to a suspension failure - one that, in the context of the interest surrounding the upgraded AMR26, made the package's introduction look like a flop.
The on-track performance suggests something more positive than that, though it's inescapably true that Stroll's weekend has been affected; Aston Martin team representative Pedro de la Rosa acknowledged as much: "We've lost a lot of track time with that, but also Lance has lost a lot of track time, because it's just a new feeling, a different characteristic to drive this car, so drivers also need to adapt.
"It's not only about adapting the set-up, but also the drivers to this car."
Parts are being transported from Silverstone to the Hungaroring so Stroll can have the latest-spec car - but that still serves to underline how fragile things are for Aston Martin right now. - Jack Cozens
Winner: Aston Martin
As The Race's resident ex-F1 technical director Gary Anderson put it, the Hungaroring weekend effectively marks the start of Aston Martin's season.
It didn't start auspiciously: unusual vibrations were clearly audible from the engine at speed from Fernando Alonso's onboard in FP1; then of course there was Stroll's suspension failure (though this was not an upgraded part).
Still, Alonso's 13th place in (a somewhat unrepresentative) FP1 was gently encouraging, and even 19th in FP2 came with the caveat that without a track-limits violation, he'd have been 17th.
If that all feels a bit 'ifs, buts and maybes', the in-house and external reviews lend a bit more credit to the theory that this was an encouraging Friday.
Team principal Adrian Newey said "the provisional results are promising" and Alonso felt there were no "big surprises" nor "any big deficit on the corners now to the top of the midfield" - something rivals, notably Williams's Alex Albon, agreed with.
So Aston Martin at least appears to have a car that it can go racing with, rather than disappearing off the back of the field. - JC
Winner: Lando Norris
Ferrari's nearest challenger?
With Mercedes out of sorts (but maybe not by as much as it seems) and Verstappen probably up at the ceiling of what the Red Bull can do (based on his FP1 and FP2 deficits, and margin over Isack Hadjar), there's a vacuum to be filled up at the front - one that Norris, in third, occupied nicely on Friday at least.
And there was a handy margin over Oscar Piastri, too, albeit one partly explained by Norris's track time advantage (Piastri sat out FP1) and their spec offset (Piastri will get McLaren's new parts on Saturday).
Still, after weekends where the result was good but the pace wasn't (Silverstone), or the pace was good but the result wasn't (Spa), maybe things are aligning nicely enough for Norris to aim for only a third podium of his title-defending season. - JC
Winner: Racing Bulls
Audi has bagged two eighth-place finishes in a row and its upgrades have put it back in the midfield leaders' fight, but Racing Bulls hasn't rested on its laurels.
The team's one Spa upgrade went to Arvid Lindblad but, with Liam Lawson now sporting the flashy upgrade as well, both cars look to have what they need to fight and beat Audi once again here.
So in the context of this being a less power-sensitive circuit than the likes of Spa, which should play into Audi's hands a little more, and with the track evolution so dramatic between sessions, Lawson leading the midfield (and being ahead of Piastri!) is a good sign. - JB
Loser: Alpine
Alpine was the only team not to declare an upgrade for the Hungarian GP, and it may find itself towards the back of the midfield throughout the weekend.
Pierre Gasly, who was 14th in both Friday practice sessions, called this "one of the toughest Fridays so far" with a lack of grip and feeling in the car.
The team is lacking downforce and "really, really struggling" as Gasly said - but the windy conditions and green track also contributed to that.
Franco Colapinto's FP2 crash added to Alpine's woes, with the team facing a long night at the Hungaroring, particularly if the gearbox is damaged.
Alpine engineer Dave Greenwood said that Colapinto was adapting to and wrestling with the winds before being "caught out" at the final corner, while maintaining that the team is "still in the race" despite a wait for its upgrade package.
Some consolation will come in the form of Paul Aron, who stepped into the car in Colapinto's place for FP1.
Having previously driven the Audi in Spanish GP FP1, Aron will provide Alpine with some useful comparisons - something Aron said he is allowed to do. - SK
Loser: Williams
Williams expected a challenge in Hungary, a track that puts excessive heat into the rear tyres, while the wind causes extra instability. Williams engineer Richard Frith said both were factors that will hurt the team's chances this weekend.
Alex Albon was 15th in FP1 and 16th in FP2.
Carlos Sainz was meanwhile twice-noted for driving erratically in FP1 (but only warned for one of the incidents) before suffering a huge lock-up late in first practice and then being shown a black-and-white flag for impeding.
Williams is essentially waiting for a major upgrade package to land at Baku in September, with the rear-limited layout of the Hungaroring proving punishing already.
It's early days, but the team was 3.426% off the pace - worse than any of its final race-weekend figures from the 10 events so far this season (3.235% in Austria being its previous worst). - SK
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