Celis Jr and Giovinazzi were on duty for Force India and Haas respectively in the first Hungarian practice. Giovinazzi was driving Kevin Magnussen's car, but crashed it much to the dismay of the onlooking Danish driver. Romain Grosjean also ended his session in the barriers, which put the team behind schedule on both sides of the garage.

Meanwhile, Red Bull ran some updates which proved successful, and Daniel Ricciardo posted the fastest time. Kimi was just behind him, but Vettel in the other Ferrari, had his own spin that narrowly avoided the barriers. Jolyon Palmer hit the kerbs quite hard and found his front wing disintegrating in front of his very eyes, leaving a trail of carbon fibre in his wake.