Vettel fastest again in second session
Sebastian Vettel retained his place at the top of the times sheet in the second practice session at the Hungaroring.
The two Red Bulls were split by Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari but he was almost half a second slow than Vettel.
Mark Webber was third, just a fraction slower than Alonso, and Felipe Massa was the only other driver able to set a sub-1’21 lap.
Vettel and Webber were closely-matched early in the session while using hard tyres. But when it came to the first laps of the weekend on super-soft tyres, Vettel extended his advantage over his team mate.
The McLaren duo rarely troubled their two rivals, with Jenson Button complaining about traffic on multiple occasions. Vitaly Petrov took the fifth-fastest time ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica.
Several drivers tested the limits of the Hungaroring as the lap times came down, particularly at the exit of turn seven where both Webber and Massa got onto the grass.
Before practice had begun the state of some of the kerbs had been inspected and Alonso’s car tore up a chunk of one of them towards the end of the session.
Heikki Kovalainen’s Friday running came to an early end as he suffered another hydraulic problem in his Lotus.
Also in trouble was Adrian Sutil, though the Force India mechanics were able to correct an electrical fault on his car and get him back on track again before the end of the day’s running.
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’20.087 | 33 | |
| 2 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’20.584 | 0.497 | 34 |
| 3 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’20.597 | 0.510 | 36 |
| 4 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’20.986 | 0.899 | 33 |
| 5 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’21.195 | 1.108 | 33 |
| 6 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’21.308 | 1.221 | 30 |
| 7 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1’21.375 | 1.288 | 37 |
| 8 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1’21.623 | 1.536 | 41 |
| 9 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’21.730 | 1.643 | 33 |
| 10 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’21.773 | 1.686 | 31 |
| 11 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’21.809 | 1.722 | 38 |
| 12 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’21.844 | 1.757 | 36 |
| 13 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’22.039 | 1.952 | 28 |
| 14 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’22.212 | 2.125 | 37 |
| 15 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’22.469 | 2.382 | 43 |
| 16 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’22.507 | 2.420 | 22 |
| 17 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’22.602 | 2.515 | 38 |
| 18 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’23.138 | 3.051 | 36 |
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’24.553 | 4.466 | 37 |
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’25.376 | 5.289 | 35 |
| 21 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’25.669 | 5.582 | 32 |
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1’26.745 | 6.658 | 33 |
| 23 | 20 | Sakon Yamamoto | HRT-Cosworth | 1’26.798 | 6.711 | 32 |
| 24 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’27.705 | 7.618 | 5 |
2010 Hungarian Grand Prix
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- 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
- A move too far: Schumacher forces stewards to take a stand
- Who was the best driver of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?
- Red Bull mark 100th F1 start with win (Hungarian Grand Prix facts and stats)
- Red Bull fly to victory but FIA set to clip their wings (Red Bull race review)
Image (C) Bridgestone/Ercole Colombo
Matt said on 30th July 2010, 14:42
Still can’t read much into this with Vitaly Petrov being 5th fastest
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 30th July 2010, 23:26
So because a rookie has a good run, the whole table is moot?
I’m sorry, but that’s just stupid. Where is it written that Petrov cannot set fast lap times? He’s been consistently on the pace with Kubica in both England and Germany, so for all appearances, it looks like he’s startsing to come good.
sato113 said on 30th July 2010, 14:46
keith, ‘Felipe Massa was the only other driver able to set a sub-1′20 lap.’
no-one set a sub 1’20 lap. i think u mean sub 1’21.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 30th July 2010, 14:48
I’ve already corrected it, thanks.
Jelle van der Meer said on 30th July 2010, 15:16
Hi Keith,
Interestingly, if Vettel was not hold up in S3 on his fastest lap he would have been sub 1.20, adding his best sector times he comes to 1.19.878.
Also would like to point out that both P1 and P2 were the fastest practice times since 2004.
Spectator said on 30th July 2010, 22:25
the track was modified since 2004 so its pointless to compare times
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 30th July 2010, 22:39
Not in any significant way. The last major revision to the track was before the 2003 race:
Changing tracks: Hungaroring
SoLiDG (@solidg) said on 30th July 2010, 14:55
At the look of the times it will be a redbull walk over. Also on the long heavy fuel load. McLaren seems to struggle since te new floor. Maybe rethink that?
rfs said on 30th July 2010, 15:28
I wonder if Macca have tried that overrun trick with that diffuser yet. Also the car is too stiffly sprung to go fast round here.
manB said on 30th July 2010, 15:13
Liuzzi seems to struggle, will FI make him sit and give di rasta a chance to check his potential?
Mike said on 30th July 2010, 16:13
Yeah, I didn’t see the session, but if Sutil sat out a fair chunk of the session, as still beat Liuzzi, that’s not so good for Liuzzi.
I’m not convinced Liuzzi deserves the seat.
(Deserves in respect to other drivers and their potential, not concerning the work he puts in to have landed the seat…)
SoLiDG (@solidg) said on 30th July 2010, 19:28
Yeah, it isn’t looking good for him atm.
I think he could become a long time testdriver after this year.
Dev said on 30th July 2010, 15:16
Red Bull will be on front row… Petrov did a decent run today… front row means a lot here since there hardly any place you can think of over taking… and also i expect 3 cars to go out on lap 1 incident… i.e safety car…
Force India again not impressive , another tire blunder & a penalty… and upgrades seem to be not working as they would have liked… maybe they need to re-look at their idea of keeping Mark Smith till April 2011… making a employee work when he has already accepted a new job usually leads to poor performance… they need to get him out gardening and get a new more experienced person in his place… losing James Key & Mark Smith is clearly showing on the car’s performance…
Steezy said on 30th July 2010, 15:17
That’s what I was saying before. Red Bull dominated on two benchmark tracks, Catalunya and Silverstone…Ferrari have made inroads but I don’t think they can close one second gap advantages that they (Red Bull) had at tracks like Catalunya and Silverstone.
People are praising development and all that, really it’s the tracks. How else can HRT, a team with zero upgrades since Bahrain… only be 6 or so seconds off if everyone is working frantically? They should be about 10-12 seconds off if F1 development is really to be believed.
The whole car development is a giant illusion bordering on farcical.
TommyC said on 30th July 2010, 23:09
i disagree with you there but i guess we’ll never know unless we go back to bahrain or melbourne at the end of the season to see if there’s any improvement.
the cars have certainly been significantly faster at most tracks this year compared to last. The time we saw yesterday from vettel was faster than webber’s q2 time from last year and set to be bettered today if that rain doesn’t arrive.
DaveW said on 30th July 2010, 15:20
Look. Yamamoto is only .05s off of Senna.
Nixon said on 30th July 2010, 15:21
Maybe the HRTs brought some amazing upgrades but kept quite about it.
David-A (@david-a) said on 30th July 2010, 15:25
They only got ahead of Kovalainen, who had a hydraulic problem. Otherwise they’re still over a second slower than the Virgins.
Dan N said on 30th July 2010, 15:31
Na, wind was behind them lol.
Bertie said on 30th July 2010, 15:54
Looks like Mclaren are nowhere. They have fallen well behind the curve on development.
Eric said on 30th July 2010, 16:05
if Vitaly Petrov can get to fifth, then Robert Kubica could be right up there, i don’t think he has showed his hand yet.
McLaren have still a lot of work to do, this type of track just doesn’t suit there car.
RBR are looking good for 1-2 finish, which will just let Hamilton hold his lead for the long break if he can finish in 6th or better.
Icthyes (@icthyes) said on 30th July 2010, 16:11
For argument’s sake we’ll take this as qualifying pace. Red Bull have consistently shown their advantage does not carry through to the race, so they are by no means invincible. and if there’s an early safety car, I wonder if Button might try a gamble?
Patrickl said on 30th July 2010, 16:35
This order of the teams seems to correspond with a Monaco type track.
STRFerrari4Ever said on 30th July 2010, 16:35
Regarding the best sector times
the fastest possible laps of the drivers are:
Alonso 1.20,454
Vettel 1.19,878
So Red Bull are looking strong indeed.
HounslowBusGarage (@hounslowbusgarage) said on 30th July 2010, 16:47
Interesting front wing comparisons on the BBC coverage. The RB front seems to virtually hoover the track in front. Looks like a serious ground effect-era contraption.
How do they do it and remain legal?
Steezy said on 30th July 2010, 17:06
It’s definitely more complex than simply making the wing strong enough for the 500N FIA load but flexing after higher loadings than that, otherwise everyone would have been doing it ages ago.
I remember reading on F1technical, something to do with materials that can flex like they do, with horizontal loadings, rather than vertical. Which means they can pass the FIA (vertical loading) tests. I think that was the gist of it, but probably not…
mateuss said on 30th July 2010, 17:21
Maybe when the wing is squished together it unsettles the wing structure, that resists the downward force, and therefore it gives up to the downforce? Honestly who knows? :D
US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 30th July 2010, 18:00
You can control the way that carbon fiber flexes to an extent by the weave of the fiber and how it’s laid up. They may have changed the grain of the weave in certain areas to make it flex in certain ways. Darren Heath, the F1 photographer was tweeting that some in the paddock are speculating that the wing actually moves forward and down…
SoLiDG (@solidg) said on 30th July 2010, 19:31
Ferrari weren’t sure if they would run their evolution wing this weekend. Strange they said this, maybe a bit worried?
I wonder if they will get an official complaint from another team.
mateuss said on 30th July 2010, 17:09
Its either some clever trickery or simply they are right on the edge of minimal margin flex to pass the test, but with some more force it flexes more aggressively. Either way its very clever and something they have worked on for years, and not just on the front wing.
DaveW said on 30th July 2010, 17:43
Reading McLaren’s live pit commentary, there are some ominous comments about balance and some comments from Hamilton about the track being bumpy—as if he’s never been here before. It seems they are still at sea with setting up the car with the EBD and stil having trouble making it work over bumps.
The RBR outside front wing endplate is basically scraping the ground in the turns so who knows if this is where McLaren has they lost the .5s they had from Turkey to Silverstone. It’s really disapointing that they can’t work out this development but even if they knew the secret, they are now fully focused on the EBD I’m sure. They are getting a taste of the medicine they gave RBR and Ferrari with the F-duct.
BBT said on 30th July 2010, 20:12
Its not just running low it is actually hit the ground on the bumps.
Younger Hamilton said on 30th July 2010, 21:56
@DaveW Well i have to say you made a very strong valid point about us having Ferrari and Redbull with the F-duct and them coming back at us with the EBD its all Even Stevens there.We need to response ASAP and we cannot be doing Damage Limitation for the rest of the season we have to get this blown diffuser thing sorted or we’re DEAD FINISHED!!!