Daniel Ricciardo was fastest in both free practice sessions in Friday for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Ricciardo clocked a 1:18.455 on the Super Soft compound in FP2. He was three-hundredths quicker than he managed in FP1.
Sebastian Vettel finished as his nearest challenger, 0.183s back. As Valtteri Bottas beat fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen, who suffered a brief stoppage amid a loss of power. Hamilton had led the early Soft tyre runs. But he did not go quicker on Super Softs, with it unclear whether he hit traffic or made a mistake, leaving him three-tenths adrift.
Max Verstappen was hindered by yellow flags, waved when Räikkönen briefly ground to a halt, and was unable to mirror team-mate Ricciardo’s improvement. Behind the top three, there was a sizeable gap back to Nico Hülkenberg, who again led Renault’s charge,
Jolyon Palmer crashing late on and causing another red flag.
Palmer, after losing his front wing in FP1 with a trip over the Turn 4 kerbs, this time lost control of his car through the final corner and slammed into the wall. McLaren-Honda kept both cars in the top 10. Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne – the latter slowing late on – sandwiching the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz Jr.
Force India took 11th and 12th, with Esteban Ocon pipping Sergio Pérez. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) slotted ahead of Williams pair Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa. Massa had several off-track excursions throughout the 90-minute session, including spins at the exit of Turn 5 and under braking for the Turn 6/7 chicane.
Palmer ended up 16th after his crash, one-and-a-half seconds down on team-mate Hülkenberg, followed by Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. Haas endured another tough session, with Grosjean reporting both understeer and oversteer, and Magnussen completing only 11 laps after Antonio Giovinazzi’s crash in FP1.
Sauber again brought up the rear, Marcus Ericsson finishing ahead of Pascal Wehrlein, who crashed out heavily at Turn 11. Wehrlein’s car snapped away through the high-speed corner, before two impacts with the barriers. He was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks.
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP2): @danielricciardo likes the Hungaroring ? #HungarianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/f9nzVVf0Bw
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 28, 2017
