Hamilton happy with his Friday efforts - credit: McLaren Media
On a day dominated (in Britain at least - let's not forget F1 is a global sport) by news of F1's coverage switching from free-to-air to pay TV, Lewis Hamilton’s Friday practice performance has been somewhat overshadowed. Not that he’ll mind: they don’t start handing out points until Sunday.
But the Brit has had a hugely encouraging first day at the Hungaroring circuit, topping both FP1 and FP2 at a track he’s already taken two race wins at. Coming off the back of his sterling success at last weekend’s German Grand Prix it’s promising stuff indeed.
Hamilton recorded a best of 1.23.350 in the morning session to edge out Red Bull’s championship-leading wunderkind Sebastian Vettel. Fernando Alonso was second ahead of Mark Webber, Jenson Button and sixth place Felipe Massa.
Also notable in FP1 was the return of Bruno Senna, who ran for the Lotus-liveried Renault team. He was 0.7s slower than regular racer Vitaly Petrov, but in the nostalgia stakes Bruno was P1: black and gold car, yellow helmet – mega.
The afternoon run saw Ferrari star Alonso cast as Hamilton’s nearest challenger, the McLaren man trimming his time to a 1.21.018 with Alonso two tenth off. The same drivers completed the top six as in the morning, the order behind the leading duo this time reading Button from Webber, Vettel and Massa.
The returning Jarno Trulli also enjoyed a good session, ending up half a second faster than team-mate Heikki Kovalainen. That weekend off – and the new powersteering system - clearly did him the world of good.
Full Times
| Driver | Team | FP1 Time | Diff to Best | Laps | Ranking | FP2 Time | Diff to Best | Laps | Ranking | Total Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 1'21.549 | 0.531 | 31 | 5 | 1'23.564 | 0.214 | 24 | 2 | 55 |
| Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 1'21.508 | 0.49 | 35 | 4 | 1'23.666 | 0.316 | 12 | 4 | 47 |
| Lewis Hamilton | McLaren/Mercedes | 1'21.018 | 29 | 1 | 1'23.350 | 19 | 1 | 48 | ||
| Jenson Button | McLaren/Mercedes | 1'21.322 | 0.304 | 34 | 3 | 1'23.772 | 0.422 | 20 | 5 | 54 |
| Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1'21.259 | 0.241 | 40 | 2 | 1'23.642 | 0.292 | 29 | 3 | 69 |
| Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1'22.099 | 1.081 | 40 | 6 | 1'24.115 | 0.765 | 25 | 6 | 65 |
| M.Schumacher | Mercedes | 1'22.440 | 1.422 | 36 | 8 | 1'24.369 | 1.019 | 20 | 8 | 56 |
| Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1'22.121 | 1.103 | 36 | 7 | 1'24.250 | 0.9 | 22 | 7 | 58 |
| Bruno Senna | Renault | no time | no time | 0 | 1'25.855 | 2.505 | 25 | 15 | 25 | |
| Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1'23.861 | 2.843 | 28 | 14 | no time | no time | 0 | 28 | |
| Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1'24.546 | 3.528 | 21 | 17 | 1'25.093 | 1.743 | 22 | 10 | 43 |
| R.Barrichello | Williams/Cosworth | 1'23.679 | 2.661 | 34 | 13 | 1'25.836 | 2.486 | 24 | 14 | 58 |
| Pastor Maldonado | Williams/Cosworth | 1'24.181 | 3.163 | 39 | 15 | 1'26.124 | 2.774 | 25 | 18 | 64 |
| Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 1'22.981 | 1.963 | 37 | 10 | 1'25.357 | 2.007 | 17 | 13 | 54 |
| Paul Di Resta | Force India/Mercedes | 1'22.835 | 1.817 | 40 | 9 | 1'25.336 | 1.986 | 22 | 12 | 62 |
| Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber/Ferrari | 1'23.030 | 2.012 | 34 | 11 | 1'25.113 | 1.763 | 21 | 11 | 55 |
| Sergio P_rez | Sauber/Ferrari | 1'23.399 | 2.381 | 37 | 12 | 1'24.620 | 1.27 | 24 | 9 | 61 |
| S_bastien Buemi | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1'24.878 | 3.86 | 35 | 18 | 1'25.890 | 2.54 | 28 | 16 | 63 |
| J.Alguersuari | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1'24.182 | 3.164 | 26 | 16 | 1'26.099 | 2.749 | 36 | 17 | 62 |
| H.Kovalainen | Lotus/Renault | 1'25.447 | 4.429 | 39 | 20 | 1'26.878 | 3.528 | 26 | 19 | 65 |
| Jarno Trulli | Lotus/Renault | 1'24.994 | 3.976 | 38 | 19 | 1'27.352 | 4.002 | 21 | 20 | 59 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | HRT/Cosworth | 1'27.730 | 6.712 | 31 | 23 | 1'29.904 | 6.554 | 26 | 24 | 57 |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT/Cosworth | 1'28.255 | 7.237 | 25 | 24 | 1'29.059 | 5.709 | 24 | 23 | 49 |
| Timo Glock | Virgin/Cosworth | 1'26.823 | 5.805 | 33 | 21 | 1'28.533 | 5.183 | 30 | 21 | 63 |
| J.D'Ambrosio | Virgin/Cosworth | 1'27.261 | 6.243 | 28 | 22 | 1'28.903 | 5.553 | 22 | 22 | 50 |
