FP1 and FP2 at Hungarian GP

Lewis Hamilton quickest in FP1 at Budapest

In the first practice session in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton set the pace ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel at a newly resurfaced track at the Hungaroring.

During FP1, McLaren-Honda driver Fernando Alonso was clearly pushing hard at times and spun in the final corner midway through the session as well as running wide twice at Turn 4 as he attempted to lower his lap time. He was not alone in exploring the run offs, with Vettel also spinning and Charles Leclerc, driving for Haas during FP1 in place of Esteban Gutierrez, finding the small gravel trap at the Turns 6 and 7 chicane.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who was fastest with a lap time of 1:21.347 ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg in second place who was 0.237 seconds behind him and ahead of Sebastian Vettel in third place who was 1.644 seconds behind Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen finished the session in fourth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place, Max Verstappen in sixth place, Fernando Alonso in seventh place, Jenson Button in eighth place, Romain Grosjean in ninth place and Sergio Perez who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Nico Hulkenberg ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Felipe Massa in twelfth place, Valtteri Bottas in thirteenth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in fourteenth place and Marcus Ericsson in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Charles Leclerc ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Felipe Nasr in seventeenth place, Esteban Ocon in eighteenth place, Daniil Kvyat in nineteenth place, Rio Haryanto in twentieth place, Pascal Wehrlein in twenty-first place and Jolyon Palmer in twenty-second place.

The classification of FP1 for the Hungarian GP is as follows:-

1.Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.21.347
2.Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.237s
3.Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.644s
4.Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.735s
5.Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.827s
6.Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 2.110s
7.Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 2.588s
8.Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 2.614s
9.Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 2.666s
10.Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.726s
11.Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 2.773s
12.Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.807s
13.Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 3.023s
14.Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 3.232s
15.Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.634s
16.Charles Leclerc, Haas Ferrari, 3.834s
17.Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.909s
18.Esteban Ocon, Renault, 3.913s
19.Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 3.977s
20.Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 5.665s
21.Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 5.902s
22.Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 7.213s

Nico Rosberg leads FP2 as Lewis Hamilton crashes

In the second practice session in Hungary, Nico Rosberg set the pace ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel as his team mate Lewis Hamilton crashed during the session.

During FP2, Lewis Hamilton was on his fourth lap of the afternoon when he lost control of his car approaching Turn 11 which sent him into a high-speed slide across the expansive run-off area before slamming into a tyre wall left-side on.

Hamilton eventually managed to extricate himself and slowly trundled back to the garage, with Mercedes confirming his session was over as the car needed to be stripped and checked for internal damage. With the safety data recorder being triggered given the force of the impact, Hamilton was also required to attend the track medical centre for a check up, but was given the all clear.

Although Hamilton was top of the timesheet at that point 20 minutes into the session, which was red-flagged for repairs to the barrier
Also, the McLaren-Honda team changed Alonso’s power unit in between sessions after discovering what Honda claimed was “an anomaly in Fernando’s data during FP1”.

It resulted in the entire system being swapped, but with no new components introduced given the replacement contained the most recent updates on the ERS and internal combustion engine, and was used in four previous races.

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas is also under investigation for failing to keep to the right of the pitlane-entry bollard at one point, with Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr also being looked at for crossing the line at the pit entry.

But with many drivers exceeded the track limits at Turn 4 (one of the two corners at this circuit where electronic kerb monitoring systems have been placed ) and will need to be mindful of such an infraction during qualifying and the race.

But it was Nico Rosberg who was fastest with a lap time of 1:20.435 ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in second place who was 0.595 seconds behind him and ahead of Sebastian Vettel in third place who was 0.913 seconds behind Rosberg.

Max Verstappen finished the session in fourth place ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fifth place, Kimi Raikkonen in sixth place, Fernando Alonso in seventh place, Jenson Button in eighth place, Nico Hulkenberg in ninth place and Sergio Perez who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Esteban Gutierrez ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Felipe Massa in twelfth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in thirteenth place, Valtteri Bottas in fourteenth place and Romain Grosjean in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Daniil Kvyat ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in seventeenth place, Marcus Ericsson in eighteenth place, Jolyon Palmer in nineteenth place, Felipe Nasr in twentieth place, Pascal Wehrlein in twenty-first place and Rio Haryanto in twenty-second place.

The classification of FP2 for the Hungarian GP is as follows:-

1.Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.237s
2.Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.595s
3.Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.913s
4.Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.335s
5.Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.525s
6.Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.623s
7.Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.893s
8.Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.952s
9.Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 2.014s
10.Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.218s
11.Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 2.238s
12.Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.246s
13.Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.254s
14.Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 2.338s
15.Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 2.429s
16.Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 2.513s
17.Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 2.912s
18.Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.002s
19.Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 3.093s
20.Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.351s
21.Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 3.557s
22.Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 3.830s

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa