Practice 1 Report - Back to the front

By Dan Knutson in Budapest

After an adventurous German Grand Prix that included leading the race, two spins, a penalty, being ill and eventually being classed in ninth place, Lewis Hamilton was back to the front of the pack in Free Practice 1 for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel, second in the race in Germany, was third in FP1, while German GP winner Max Verstappen was second.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes = Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas; Ferrari = Vettel and Charles Leclerc; Red Bull TAG Heuer = Verstappen and Pierre Gasly; Renault = Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg; Haas Ferrari = Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen; McLaren Renault = Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris; Racing Point Mercedes = Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll; Alfa Romeo Ferrari = Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi; Toro Rosso Honda = Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon; Williams Mercedes = George Russell and Robert Kubica.

Tens of thousands of Polish fans were set to attend the race and cheer for Kubica.

“It is kind of our home race, as Hungary is the closest race track to Poland,” Kubica said. “It’s not a surprise that there will be a lot of Polish fans here, which is always nice. Of course I would like to pay them back for their support with a good performance but I think this will be quite difficult, looking at the season up to now.

“But still it’s great to see such big support, not only in Formula One, they have been around also when I was rallying, when I was doing some other racing series so yeah, always good, and hopefully they will enjoy their weekend.”

Kubica and Hulkenberg were the first out on the 14-turn 2.722-mile (4.381 km) track.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 79 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Centigrade).

Rain was in the forecast, and soon, so some drivers immediately put in some flying laps on the track while it was still dry.

Hamilton turned a 1:19.961, but Leclerc beat that with a 1:19.638.

Ten minutes into the session Verstappen took the lead with a time of 1:88.629. But a couple of minutes later Hamilton swooped in at 1:18.077.

The rain was staying away, and Raikkonen’s engineer radioed to the Finnish driver that only a few drops were expected.

Hamilton and Verstappen continued to lower their lap times, getting down to a 1:17.565 and a 1:17.875 respectively. Next came Vettel, Leclerc, Magnussen, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo.

Hamilton radioed that he would keep lapping because it looked to him like rain was on the way. He had already completed 16 laps 25 minutes into FP1.

At the half-hour mark Leclerc’s engineer radioed that heavy rain was expected in four to five minutes. Hamilton had finally pitted after 19 laps, the best of which was a 1:17.233.

In other action, Bottas had done just two laps before pitting for an engine change. And Verstappen had a quick spin in the final bend.

And now it was indeed raining on some parts of the circuit; all the drivers returned to the pits.

The order was: Hamilton, Verstappen, Gasly, Vettel, Leclerc, Magnussen, Perez, Hulkenberg, Sainz and Norris.

Leclerc then ventured out on the Pirelli intermediate rain tires, but he did just one lap and pitted. Others also tried out the inters, including Perez, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo.

“A very gentle lap on these intermediates, please,” requested Hulkenberg’s engineer.

The track was damp in some places, dry in others, and heavy rain had steered clear of the circuit. With just over 40 minutes remaining, several drivers tried out the slicks again including Russell, Sainz and Grosjean.

Sainz moved up to sixth and Hulkenberg to fourth. They were on the softs. Hamilton tried the medium compound, and was a third of a second slower than his time on the soft slicks.

Perez had a spin but stayed away from the barriers.

Vettel, on the softs, clocked a 1:17.399 with 30 minutes to go, and moved into second place.

At the one-hour mark the order was: Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Magnussen, Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Norris, Sainz and Ricciardo. But then Gasly improved to fourth.

Verstappen had a spin and said the car was sliding on the entry to the turns.

Hamilton remained in front for the rest of FP1. Verstappen, Vettel, Gasly, Magnussen, Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Norris, Sainz and Raikkonen rounded out the top 10.

Hamilton also completed more laps = 41 = than any other driver. That was more than half the race distance of 70 laps.