Hungarian GP 2011

JULY 29, 2011

Practice 2 Report - Hamilton stays on top in Budapest

Lewis Hamilton, Hungarian GP 2011
Martin Trenkler, for Granprix.com

Early indications suggest that the Hungarian Grand Prix could be another absorbing three-way fight of the type that saw Lewis Hamilton come out on top in Germany last Sunday after a race-long battle with Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

Hamilton, who was quickest in the first session of free practice, again topped the times in FP2, getting the McLaren round in 1:21.018, a quarter of a second quicker than Fernando Alonso's Ferrari (1:21.259).

Jenson Button (1:21.322) made it a McLaren 1-3, while Mark Webber (1:21.508) was marginally the quicker of the Red Bull drivers, his RB7 repaired after his off at Turn 9 in the morning session.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel (1:21.549) was just four hundredths behind the Australian, then came a half second gap to Felipe Massa (1:22.099). The Hungaroring has not been particularly kind to the Brazilian. He had a problem in 2007 during qualifying and was forced to start from the back, he had an engine fail with three laps to go while leading in '08, then his nasty accident with the rogue Brawn spring in '09.

Nico Rosberg (1:22.121) was seventh fastest for Mercedes, with team mate Michael Schumacher three tenths adrift (1:22.440). The Force India drivers completed the top 10, with Paul Di Resta (1:22.835) marginally quicker than Adrian Sutil.