Grand Prix of Hungary, Practise Sessions 1, 2 & 3

Lewis Hamilton led the way for McLaren in a serene final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Briton hit the front after 25 minutes, deposing Ferrari’s Felipe
Massa just seconds after the Brazilian had become the first of the
major contenders to set a lap time.

Massa then reclaimed the top spot a quarter of an hour later, but
once again his sojourn at the head of the times was brief, as Hamilton
lapped in 1:20.228 on soft tyres in the final five minutes to end the
morning on top.

Behind Massa, who stayed on hard tyres for his final run and also
hit traffic, Timo Glock took an impressive third for Toyota, having
been amongst the front-runners throughout the session.

Heikki Kovalainen put the second McLaren fourth, with the team again
using the new nose wings that they had tried in second practice
yesterday.

Renault’s Nelson Piquet and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld completed the top
six, while the two Toro Rossos put in a promising performance as
Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel claimed seventh and eighth
ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who hit traffic on his last run, and Williams’
Nico Rosberg.

The session saw little incident, with brief trips off the road for
Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Robert Kubica (BMW) the only errors of
note, the Pole damaging a bargeboard in his mistake.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:20.228           14
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:20.567 + 0.339   14
 3.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:20.623 + 0.395   21
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:20.657 + 0.429   15
 5.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:20.917 + 0.689   21
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:21.096 + 0.868   15
 7.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.179 + 0.951   21
 8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.184 + 0.956   22
 9.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:21.187 + 0.959   18
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:21.195 + 0.967   19
11.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:21.228 + 1.000   21
12.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:21.357 + 1.129   17
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:21.489 + 1.261   16
14.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:21.601 + 1.373   18
15.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:21.703 + 1.475   20
16.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:21.752 + 1.524   17
17.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:21.772 + 1.544   19
18.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:21.975 + 1.747   18
19.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.189 + 1.961   22
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.550 + 2.322   23

Kimi’s sticking to testing out race set up, it seems, in the final practise sessions. Qualifying looks set for dry and warm weather so let’s see what Kimi can do!

| Free Practise 2 – Hamilton Quickest Ahead of Renault

Lewis Hamilton emerged quickest at the end of Friday afternoon
practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix, as McLaren got back on top
following Ferrari’s morning dominance.

For much of the session the McLaren had monopolised the leading
positions, but they were split in the closing stages by Renault’s
Nelson Piquet, with his teammate Fernando Alonso taking fourth as both
used the super-soft Bridgestones for their last runs.

Hamilton hit the front seven minutes into second practice, and
for the majority of the subsequent action either the Briton or his
teammate Heikki Kovalainen led the way, with the pair swapping the
advantage several times while evaluating the new nose wings first seen
in the recent Jerez test.

With six minutes remaining, Hamilton used the softer tyres to
produce the 1:20.554 lap that would stand as the best of the session,
with Kovalainen being edged down to third when Piquet leapt up the
order shortly afterwards – although the Renault driver had a spin at
Turn 1 immediately after setting his quick time.

Teammate Alonso took fourth with his second flying lap on soft
tyres after a big brake lock-up into Turn 1 on his first attempt. He
finished the afternoon ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe
Massa, and the BMWs of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld… 

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:20.554            35
 2.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:20.748  + 0.194   38
 3.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:20.760  + 0.206   33
 4.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:20.928  + 0.374   35
 5.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:21.009  + 0.455   35
 6.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:21.010  + 0.456   36
 7.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:21.138  + 0.584   46
 8.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:21.363  + 0.809   36
 9.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:21.505  + 0.951   42
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:21.581  + 1.027   34
11.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:21.662  + 1.108   39
12.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:21.733  + 1.179   43
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:21.837  + 1.283   34
14.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:21.902  + 1.348   33
15.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.955  + 1.401   41
16.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:22.150  + 1.596   41
17.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.197  + 1.643   36
18.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.358  + 1.804   37
19.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:22.448  + 1.894   33
20.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:22.945  + 2.391    5 

| Friday Quotes – Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen – 5th: "We worked on various set-up
options for the car. I also tried the new engine cover, but it is hard
to assess it in any detail. The situation is not too bad, the car
handles better, but our main rivals seem to be still a little bit
quicker than us, even if there is the usual question mark over any
difference in the fuel loads. There is still room for improvement and
we will concentrate all our efforts on this in preparing for qualifying
and the race."

Felipe Massa – 6th: "It’s hard to say exactly where
we are compared to the opposition, but clearly they are very quick. I
did not feel too comfortable on the softest tyre while on the harder
one, which I used first, the situation was much better. As usual on the
first day at the Hungaroring, it is difficult to understand how the
tyres are behaving because you always get a lot of graining, while the
situation changes bit by bit as more rubber goes down on the track
surface. We know in which direction we have to work and we will do all
we can to bring home a good result. It will be tough, but I am
confident all the same."

Luca Baldisserri: "Friday’s results are always
difficult to evaluate as one doesn’t know what fuel loads the other
teams are running and this is even more the case here in Budapest where
the tyres show signs of a lot of graining on the first day. In fact,
only the performance over the first lap can be considered a valid
indication, before waiting several laps before the tyres clean up again
and one can return to showing an acceptable pace. We got through all
our planned programme and the new parts we have brought here seem to be
working in the right direction. Now we have to analyse the date to be
as well prepared as possible for the rest of the weekend."

| Free Practise 1 – Massa Leads Ferrari 1-2 From McLaren

Felipe Massa led teammate Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari one-two in opening practice at the Hungaroring.

McLaren duo Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton ended the quiet
session in third and fourth places, with Fernando Alonso the best of
the rest for Renault.

As usual at the famously dusty and rarely-used Hungaroring, a
large amount of the session elapsed before anyone decided to attempt a
flying lap, with Honda’s Rubens Barrichello the first to set a time
after 33 minutes.

Raikkonen then hit the front just after the session’s halfway
point, lapping in 1:22.032, which kept him on top until Kovalainen
moved ahead just after the hour mark with a time a little under one
tenth of a second quicker.

Massa was next to lead the way, sneaking ahead of Kovalainen by
0.005 seconds with a quarter of an hour to go, and he proceeded to
dominate the final part of the session. Although Hamilton briefly
usurped the Ferrari, the McLaren driver was only in front for a few
seconds before Massa reclaimed the top spot.

The Brazilian then went faster still later in his run, producing a 1:20.981 lap to move himself half a second clear of the pack.

Teammate Raikkonen improved his time in the final moments and moved to second, but he remained 0.364 seconds slower than Massa.

Kovalainen ended up third, with Hamilton fourth after setting
several fastest times in the first sector before losing ground further
around the lap.

Behind fifth-placed Alonso, Timo Glock took an eye-catching
sixth for Toyota, having been as high as second earlier in the session.

BMW’s Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld claimed seventh and
ninth, sandwiching Alonso’s Renault teammate Fernando Alonso, with
Jarno Trulli completing the top ten.
The session saw few incidents, aside from Trulli spinning his
Toyota just after going momentarily fastest during the early running,
and Sebastian Vettel parking his Toro Rosso with a mechanical problem
after just four laps, leaving him at the bottom of the timing screens…

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:20.981            19
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:21.345  + 0.364   21
 3.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:21.410  + 0.429   17
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:21.535  + 0.554   18
 5.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:21.802  + 0.821   18
 6.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:21.931  + 0.950   22
 7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:22.267  + 1.286   18
 8.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:22.326  + 1.345   19
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:22.370  + 1.389   22
10.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:22.457  + 1.476   25
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:22.654  + 1.673   23
12.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:22.700  + 1.719   16
13.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:22.900  + 1.919   26
14.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:22.917  + 1.936   27
15.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:23.093  + 2.112   26
16.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:23.147  + 2.166   21
17.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:23.274  + 2.293   22
18.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:23.353  + 2.372   25
19.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:23.459  + 2.478   28
20.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.923  + 2.942    4

Kimi was not using the shark fin engine cover in this session, so whether those extra three tenths are the visible difference from Massa using it, then perhaps that’s better than expected. I’m not sure on whether that fastest time was exactly carried out with the shark fin, but it’s a good start to the weekend nonetheless from Kimi and Ferrari.