Hungarian GP 2019

AUGUST 3, 2019

Practice 3 Report - Plowing through the clouds

Lewis Hamilton, Hungarian GP 2019
© RV Press

By Dan Knutson in Budapest

Free Practice 3 for the Hungarian race began with the cars plowing through clouds of dust from the cement oil-dry put down to soak up the oil dumped by a Formula 2 car earlier in the day. FP3 ended with Lewis Hamilton posting the fastest lap time of the session – a 1:16.084 – in his Mercedes.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes – Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas; Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc; Red Bull TAG Heuer –Max 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.

Hamilton was fastest on Friday, posting a 1:17.233 in FP1. It rained for much of FP2.

"FP1 was a good session," said Hamilton who had been ill during the German Grand Prix the weekend before. "I wanted to come back into the weekend feeling better and getting straight on it. The car the balance was quite nice straight from the get-go."

FP3 was delayed by 10 minutes as crews cleaned up the track of an oil spill when a Formula 2 car blew up its engine during the F2 race earlier in the day. Officials then shortened the 60-minute session to 50 minutes.

The ambient temperature at the start of the shortened session was 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Centigrade).

Lots of powdery oil-try covered swathes of the track in the Turn 4 area. Grosjean and Raikkonen were the first out to sample things, and they and the other drivers threw up clouds of dust as they plowed through.

"The dust coming off the track is incredible, no other way to describe it," radioed Norris who set the early lap time mark of 1:20.037.

Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull did not even send their drivers out for an install lap, preferring to let other cars clean the track for them. Ferrari was the first to relent.

By now Norris had lowered the mark to 1:18.706 until, with 40 minutes remaining, Leclerc topped that with a 1:18.228. Vettel followed up at 1:17.435 and 1:17.330 on the soft compound Pirelli slicks.

Also in action was Albon – the Toro Rosso mechanics had rebuilt his car overnight after he had crashed in FP2.

Half an hour remained when Hamilton popped to the top at 1:17.051 on the softs. Bottas was now second ahead of Vettel, Leclerc, Verstappen, Gasly, Grosjean and Albon.

A few minutes later Verstappen tapped a 1:17.036, a mere 0.016 of a second quicker than Hamilton. And Norris grabbed third place behind the duo.

Then, with 20 minutes to go, the drivers did runs on new sets of soft slicks. Hamilton did a 1:16.339 to claim the lead ahead of Bottas, Leclerc, Verstappen, and Vettel. Next in the lineup were: Norris, Gasly, Magnussen, Hulkenberg and Giovinazzi.

Leclerc wasn't done yet, however, and he moved up to second by turning a 1:16.392. Verstappen claimed third ahead of Bottas, Vettel and Gasly. And then: Norris, Sainz, Magnussen and Raikkonen.

Things got quiet with about 10 minutes remaining as most of the drivers were now in the pits.

Then out they came for one last qualifying sim run. Verstappen went ahead at 1:16.097. Hamilton, unable to improve his time, pitted again. Vettel replaced him in second place.

Hamilton came back out in the final two minutes and posted a 1:16.084 to retake the lead with a new track record.

The track was still dusty in the Turn 4 area as FP3 wound down. Hamilton was still in front, followed by Verstappen, Vettel, Bottas, Leclerc, Gasly, Norris, Raikkonen, Sainz and Magnussen.