Lewis Hamilton kept his place on top of the times sheets in second practice at the Hungaroring.
The McLaren driver trailed team mate Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso during the early part of the session as the drivers lapped on soft tyres.
Alonso was one of the first drivers to switch to super-soft tyres, lowering his best time by eight tenths of a second.
Hamilton and Button then took to the track at the same time, Button lapping a few hundredths of a second off Alonso’s pace.
But Hamilton found more time, lapping almost a quarter of a second faster than the Ferrari.
Neither of the Red Bulls were able to beat that trio. Mark Webber was fourth, Sebastian Vettel four-hundredths behind in fifth.
Felipe Massa led the two Mercedes, with Michael Schumacher ending the session struggling for rear tyre grip in his long run.
The two Force Indias completed the top ten, with Paul di Resta slightly quicker than Adrian Sutil.
2011 Hungarian Grand Prix
Oliver
29th July 2011, 14:36
Red Bull certainly in the mix if not slower than Red Bull & Ferrari. This is quite a shock compared to their speed last year.
Fernando for pole & victory? He’s amazing around here.
Oliver
29th July 2011, 14:37
Meant to say “Slower than McLaren and Ferrari”, obv
Younger Hamii
29th July 2011, 14:40
Didnt know there was another Red Bull Team.I
lundis (@lundis)
29th July 2011, 15:08
Well, the are 2: Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso (Team Red Bull (translated)), so one will always be slower than the other.
smifaye (@)
29th July 2011, 15:08
Toro Rosso? :p
Aussie Fan
30th July 2011, 4:07
Repeat? :p
JCost (@jcost)
29th July 2011, 14:49
I think you should not count Lewis out, he’s got 2 poles and 2 victories in 4 appearances. That’s a respectable record I guess…
f1andy83
29th July 2011, 17:46
Is anyone bringing updates to this race?
Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
29th July 2011, 15:04
how cold was the track? Cause the Ferrari will find more speed if the track heats up.
Todfod (@todfod)
29th July 2011, 16:21
The track was around 23-24 degrees during FP2. Which is around 10 degrees warmer than what we saw at the Nurburgring. Mclaren seems to be competitive irrespective of the track temp.
angelkouva
29th July 2011, 16:49
Track temperature was around 24 degrees C but lower temperature is expected on Sunday. It seems that McLaren will be strong in the mix, and that weather conditions favors it at the moment. It ‘s going to be good for the championship if Mclaren keeps that momentum, especially if Button continues to be competitive as he was today.
Eggry (@eggry)
29th July 2011, 17:04
If FP shows real pace, I think Hamilton is the most favorite of the pole. but in the race, I suspect Alonso and Hamilton match very close.
mename2332 (@mename2332)
29th July 2011, 17:10
looking at the times (and the long runs), then don’t forget Button.
The red bulls were looking very competitive in the long runs as well
Eggry (@eggry)
29th July 2011, 17:26
Yeah, it was strange thing. Their strength was dominant quali pace but after recent races, there’s possibility that they are focusing on race pace but I’m not sure.
lewymp4 (@lewymp4)
29th July 2011, 19:20
Lewis isn’t too shabby either, especially when you take into consideration his 2 wins.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
30th July 2011, 10:28
Not strictly true. Red Bull often surprise in Q3, classic Vettel especially.
Antranik (@antranik)
29th July 2011, 14:37
Looking forward to what should be a very interesting quali! Red Bull really didn’t look as fast as most expected them to be on this track…
Soumya
29th July 2011, 14:38
Keith,how do you suggest McLaren have succeeded in making such a complete turnaround of their car over the last 2 races…its unbelievable.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th July 2011, 14:39
Let’s wait and see if it’s real first – this time last week they weren’t looking very quick.
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th July 2011, 14:44
Keith, do you think the relatively faster long-run pace of the Red Bull could indicate a lack of DRS use/engine mode/fuel difference?
It would make for a nice change to see them as the chasing drivers.
jake
29th July 2011, 14:46
i don’t think they have. They had the fastest race car in Spain, Monaco and Montreal. In Valencia they struggled due to extreme temperatures (45 track temp) and in Silverstone they lost 0.8s due to the ban on Diffusers. This was returned to them in Germany, where the track temps being so low helping even more.
Now in Hungary, the track temps are low again and Mclaren have a raft of aero updates and a new exhaust system. Ofcourse they will have been updating the car over all the races, and stated after Montreal that the main aim is to improve quali performance, which they appear to have done.
So basically, they haven’t turned around the car, they have simply updated it as all teams do, working particularly on quali, and it just appears like a huge turnaround because of the circumstances that went against them in Valencia and Silverstone
Dphect
29th July 2011, 15:02
Don’t know about you, but that sounds like a turn around to me.
jake
29th July 2011, 15:06
what i mean is that the car was never bad. Its not like the start of the season or 2009 where the car was bad and the team put in an extra phenomenal effort compared to the other teams, rather that on a couple of races, circumstance meant they weren’t as competitive as they had been, and now those external circumstances don’t exist, Mclaren are back where they were.
Soumya
29th July 2011, 15:27
You cant say they had the fastest race car in Montreal-it was a wet race,there were too many factors.
jake
29th July 2011, 15:29
well they had a car that did the race distance in the fastest time, but i see what you mean. Still it’s clear they weren’t slow
mename2332 (@mename2332)
29th July 2011, 17:12
even though the winning speed average was only about 30 mph :)
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
29th July 2011, 14:38
I think Red Bull will still have the upper hand at Qualy. We’ve seen them many times being behind at practice yet storming to pole the day after.
Younger Hamii
29th July 2011, 14:46
I Agree but the advantage in Qualifying is nowhere near the advantage they had last year and looking at the Race Trims between McLaren,Red Bull and Ferrari,It looks really really competitive between the three teams,setting identical lap times although from what i’ve evaluated over the Practice Red Bull does have the MOST Consistent pace down in the 1:27s but never forget McLaren and Ferrari’s Consistency with their Lap Times as well.
The 1:30+s lap times produced by those teams were due to slow laps,just cooling the Tyres or building Temperature into them.
I reckon Quali and the Race will come down to the FINAL Wire but lets not make predictions until after Saturday Practice and Qualifying
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
29th July 2011, 15:38
Yeah, but if they lock the front row, it’ll be harder to beat them than in the Nurburgring or Silverstone.
JCost (@jcost)
29th July 2011, 14:42
It’s looking good. Let’s hope Hamilton and Alonso keep Vettel off the front row.
Let’s see how things unfold tomorrow.
west (@west)
29th July 2011, 14:43
Mclaren are runing an almost red bull angle of rake, if you look at the front its wing is too low compared to the look we know of the mclaren, any more infomation on that.
Younger Hamii
29th July 2011, 14:48
I must ask does the angle of Rake that the Teams decide to run is something is do with the Front and Rear Ride Heights?
DaveW
29th July 2011, 15:22
Yes. Note Newey’s rebuttal to the both the ride-height and flexi-wing tricks charges has been, we run a lot of rake, more than Mclaren and Ferrari. More rake—nose down, tail up—should give you more downforce—more body-plane effect and a greater “tunnel” effect underbody.
Oliver
29th July 2011, 17:06
Is it possible Redbull uses electro deformable body parts to flex the front wings hence those wires running into the nose
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
29th July 2011, 17:24
electro deformable body parts??.
what do you mean?
Eggry (@eggry)
29th July 2011, 17:30
It means the parts which is deformed by electronic signal or input…I don’t think they have such thing though.
Sush Meerkat
29th July 2011, 18:32
I really don’t think Red Bull have flexi wings, most teams run the back end as close to the ground as possible to make the diffuser more efficient, it seems to be the easy way out of extracting performance, Newey creations tend to have high rear ends and low front ends.
Didn’t he create the 98 McLaren?, that also had a high rear end, although it had other tricks.
Its a material that changes shape when an electrical current is applied to it, the best example of it found in mainstream media would be Christian Bales cape in Batman, its soft but become rigid for gliding.
Speaking of which, the FIA should let the teams race with Tumbler’s, it can turn on a 50 pence piece and if there’s a pesky Red Bull in the way they can just jump it!
http://www.chickslovethecar.com/Tumbler.aspx
zecks
29th July 2011, 14:43
oh dear renault, it looks like their conventional exhaust system really hasn’t helped
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th July 2011, 14:46
STR also not looking so great, but that might be race setup, but Renault now being in the mix with Williams and STR for back of the midfield, that does indeed not look very good.
Grigor (@grigor)
29th July 2011, 15:07
I thought they were sticking with the forward exhaust this weekend
wigster (@wigster)
29th July 2011, 15:55
I think they still had their forward exhausts. At least that’s what it looked like when they showed their car in the pits with the thermal imaging camera.
SparkyJ23 (@sparkyj23)
29th July 2011, 16:44
That was an astonishing shot. The throttle got blipped and the ground went white for about 3 metres each side of the car.
west (@west)
29th July 2011, 14:48
Looks like they change the ride heights of that car and they do have more downforce.
smifaye (@)
29th July 2011, 15:09
Hamilton is absolutely on it!
Of course this means nothing, but it’s crazy to think how much McLaren and Ferrari have gained on Red Bull, from last season and even this season.
Practice can be misleading but there is definitely some truth in the times so far.
Bring on an awesome race weekend to take our minds off the dreadful news.
Todfod (@todfod)
29th July 2011, 16:26
I’m actually shocked that Red Bull haven’t been dominating this weekend. Last year they were at their strongest at the Hungaroring.
They have to be sandbagging to a certain extent, as this is a little too hard to believe. Mclaren seems genuinely quicker around this circuit, and I would guess Ferrari and Red Bull will be pretty evenly matched.
JohnBt
29th July 2011, 15:15
Great for close racing, that’s what we want.
sato113 (@sato113)
29th July 2011, 15:32
Guys here’s something-
in old points up unitl round 10-
VET 89
HAM 55
difference = 34
doesn’t look so big now does it!
in 2009 after round ten it was
BUT 75
VET 47
difference = 28
and this champ ended quite closely (only 1 round to spare)
BS
29th July 2011, 17:24
Not to mention the 2009 had a much more sensible 17 Grand Prixs, compared to this year’s 19.
claudioff
29th July 2011, 15:32
Has anyone noticed that more than half of these positions (14 to be more accurate) are occupied by pairs (Reb Bull (4th and 5th), Mercedes (8th and 9th), F-india (10th and 11 th, etc.) ? And, with the exception of Ferrari and Renault, all the rest have only one car between them (Merc 1th and 3th), Williams (13th and 15th) etc.? Any thoughts like “cars are reaching their fully development”, “Alonso is great, Massa sucks”, etc..
Klaas (@klaas)
30th July 2011, 7:23
Alonso is great, Massa sucks – it finally got to you too. :)
Bill
29th July 2011, 15:45
Oh really… Truth is whatever happened in practice today doesn’t matter.. Vettel has probably already won this years World Championship and as far as I and many others are concerned there won’t be a World Championship next season as we refuse to watch it on Sky.. Everyone might as well just pack up and go home.. F1 IS DEAD RIP..
Adam
29th July 2011, 18:22
Hilarious to hear all the moaners justifing their tightness with quasi moral outrage at F1 seeking to monitise its product.
Fixy (@)
29th July 2011, 15:54
Hamilton for pole, Vettel second and Alonso third. Red Bull may even be slower than Ferrari and McLaren, but Vettel has great one-lap speed.
marc
29th July 2011, 16:32
Wrong…..Alonso 1 st Webber 2 nd Hamilton 3 rd and Vettel crash out of or finished in 6 position on sunday race.
Eggry (@eggry)
29th July 2011, 17:32
Well it would help title fight but unlikely…
Jeffrey Powell
29th July 2011, 19:46
I cannot understand anyone wishing a driver to ‘crash out’. I’m sure you don’t really mean that.
S.J.M (@sjm)
29th July 2011, 18:29
If Ferrari and Mclaren can keep Red Bull, or specifically Vettel, down the grid by race end (assuming he didnt retire ofc) then it would do the championship wonders. Spa & Monza following the summer break, both a more Mclaren/Ferrari orientated due to the higher speeds, it might just lead to them reining in Vettel.
If, and its a big if (as i still dont trust FP times 100%) Free Pratice times are near accurate, the playing field is getting leveled all the more, and this title fight could be anything but over.
west (@west)
29th July 2011, 16:05
True massa sucks, but dont forget this is where he nearly lost his F1 currier so he has no more ability to drive as he used to be , more like schumacher he is a siting duck compared to rosberg
global stalin
30th July 2011, 6:42
schumacher is not a duck. Rosberg has 0 wins & Schumacher is a multiple double and triple wdc and he is better than even emerson Fittipladi and Carlos pace. So don’t say massa is not so good when not compared with felipe and even rosberg is known factor because he had driven in williams cosworth in 2006 and his set fast lap in bahrain in his debut and did good in free practice in 2009 often winning friday practice championship.
TFLB
29th July 2011, 16:18
It’s interesting that Trulli’s power steering issues have been sorted and he goes half a second quicker than Kovalainen…
SparkyJ23 (@sparkyj23)
29th July 2011, 16:46
I think that weekend off has concentrated his mind somewhat…
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 16:24
Keith, you forgot to mention, that Trulli is not complaining about the car, actually he is very positive about it. Thats a miracle turnaround :-)
Troy Alexander (@troy-alexander)
29th July 2011, 16:46
I hope Mclaren are to continue their good work in qualifying and race day. However, I do feel that Red bull are hiding a bit of pace.
Eggry (@eggry)
29th July 2011, 17:10
Great. even if Red Bull shows magic in FP3 and Qualy, It should be very slim. There’s no such dominance like last year. I don’t know it’s because they are now focusing on race pace or it’s just caught up, but I hope it would be the latter.
I expect Hamilton or one of Red Bull on pole but in the race Alonso will be serious threat whoever the pole is.
xabregas
29th July 2011, 17:21
Interesting FP2. Mclaren ( Hamilton and Button) and Ferrari ( Alonso) seem really good, RBR will have for sure a hard time coming sunday´s race which should be good news for the championship.
Hallard
29th July 2011, 17:22
I know we like to read into practice times, but I’m not getting my hopes up that Lewis or Fernando will be able to keep Red Bull from securing pole position tomorrow, as much as I’d like that to be the case.
I cant imagine that they’ve shown the RB7’s true pace here yet, and when considering how far behind McLaren seemed to be in practice in Germany, my money is on a Red Bull front row here.
Sp33d1devil1 (@)
29th July 2011, 18:17
I hope Vettel will find his pace back.
Yes i want a excited Championship, No i don’t want a WC’11 that only finished 3 or fourth in the second part of the season (like Button in 2009)
VXR
30th July 2011, 1:15
That’s the way it is with F1. Car is 90% and Driver is 10% of the package.
Avais Ibrahim
29th July 2011, 21:29
Well i hope that both mclaren and ferrari carry this form to qualifying and race.Even though i am a die hard McLaren fan its still friday but they have given me alot of hope.GO McLaren !!!!! wooohooooooo :)
daykind
29th July 2011, 21:37
2nd – a decent birthday present for Fernando!
VXR
30th July 2011, 1:13
Lewis Hamilton. If Carlsberg made racing drivers…….
Doance (@doance)
30th July 2011, 2:53
Yeah Red Bull have certainly lost their edge.