​Lewis Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix a record eight times [Reuters]Ferrari led the field by a significant margin in Friday practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix but Charles Leclerc predicted a “tight” qualifying session on Saturday.Leclerc trailed team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.148 seconds with McLaren’s Lando Norris 0.499secs back in third place.Mercedes had a difficult day, championship leader Kimi Antonelli 13th fastest after a disrupted run on soft tyres and George Russell fifth.The topic of the day was the new Aston Martin, which Fernando Alonso said felt “much better” after an encouraging debut for the team that has been at the back all season.The veteran two-time champion was 2.990secs off the pace in 19th place but had a lap faster by 0.4secs ruled out for track limits.Even so, Alonso’s actual lap time marked a major step forward for a team that has been trailing by more than four seconds in recent races.How to follow Hungarian Grand Prix on the BBCWith a new Honda engine due for the next race, the Dutch Grand Prix after Formula 1’s summer break, Alonso said there was a “positive atmosphere in the team now”.”The car feels more glued to the ground and easier to drive to an extent when you are in control of the grip in the corners,” Alonso added.”More predictable and an easier car but still a long way to go for us.”Obviously this will be the first step. We need to find more performance both on the chassis but also on the engine.”Zandvoort would be a good test for us with the new engine. So step by step but definitely in the right direction.”The key was not only that the upgrade was a step in the right direction but also that it had delivered as expected.There had been some nervousness around that for the first major upgrade under Adrian Newey’s technical leadership. In the past three seasons, upgrades had not delivered as expected, and it was critical for the future that this one, designed and developed with new tools at the team’s new factory, worked.Newey said further upgrades to the car were due for the Italian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix in September.Alonso said: “We had what we expected in terms of numbers and correlation, which is obviously very encouraging for the future as well, for next year’s car and the future upgrades into this year.”It’s still a long way to go for us. Obviously, we’re starting so far behind, but this is the first step, hopefully, of good ones coming.”The day was not all positive for Aston Martin, however. Alonso’s team-mate Lance Stroll spun out of the first session with what initially appeared to be a rear suspension failure.He was then unable to take part in the second because there was not enough time to repair the car.Team representative Pedro de la Rosa said: “It is a suspension failure. We were confident it would not happen in Fernando’s car. That’s why we sent him out. Because of the lack of spares we couldn’t repair his car on time. Some parts need to be repaired and some needed to come here.”La