Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Hungarian GP: Hamilton leads Rosberg in opening practice

Mercedes underlined its dominant position at the front of Formula 1 by comfortably leading the way in the first free practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton beat team-mate Nico Rosberg to the fastest time by just 0.183 seconds, after struggling with his brakes in the early part of the session.

The silver cars were the only ones to lap below 1m26s around the Hungaroring.

Kimi Raikkonen finished up best of the rest in third, six tenths of a second adrift of championship leader Rosberg.

The Finn matched Hamilton in the first sector but his Ferrari fell away across the rest of the circuit.

Raikkonen lapped four tenths clear of Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso, who was in turn four tenths faster than reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel in the best of the Red Bulls.

Kevin Magnussen's McLaren rounded out the top six, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso, the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, and the sister McLaren of Jenson Button.

Felipe Massa was fastest of the two Williams drivers in 10th, while team-mate Valtteri Bottas was only 15th, behind Esteban Gutierrez in the best of the Saubers, Nico Hulkenberg's Force India, Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso, and Pastor Maldonado in the best of the Lotus.

Hulkenberg's Force India team-mate Sergio Perez was next, ahead of the troublesome second Lotus of Romain Grosjean, which stopped early with a technical issue related to the car's water system.

Adrian Sutil was 18th fastest, more than a second slower than Sauber team-mate Gutierrez, but well ahead of the two Caterhams - led by Kamui Kobayashi - and the two Marussias.

There were a number of brake lock-ups and trips across the circuit run-off areas as drivers explored the track's limits early on, but the most dramatic moment of the session befell Max Chilton as he returned to the pits after his installation lap.

Chilton is hoping his form will improve this weekend, after switching back to a chassis he used before June's Austrian GP, but the Briton's session was barely five minutes old when his Marussia caught fire in the pitlane when some oil leaked onto the car's exhaust, requiring a change of gearbox on the MR03.

He returned to the track just in time to register a flying lap two tenths clear of his team-mate Bianchi.


Pos Driver               Team                    Time       Gap     Laps
 1. Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes                1m25.814s           27
 2. Nico Rosberg         Mercedes                1m25.997s  +0.183s  31
 3. Kimi Raikkonen       Ferrari                 1m26.421s  +0.607s  29
 4. Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                 1m26.872s  +1.058s  23
 5. Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault        1m27.220s  +1.406s  28
 6. Kevin Magnussen      McLaren-Mercedes        1m27.357s  +1.543s  28
 7. Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Renault      1m27.683s  +1.869s  30
 8. Daniel Ricciardo     Red Bull-Renault        1m27.782s  +1.968s  16
 9. Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes        1m27.804s  +1.990s  27
10. Felipe Massa         Williams-Mercedes       1m27.960s  +2.146s  24
11. Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari          1m27.967s  +2.153s  25
12. Nico Hulkenberg      Force India-Mercedes    1m28.101s  +2.287s  28
13. Daniil Kvyat         Toro Rosso-Renault      1m28.208s  +2.394s  32
14. Pastor Maldonado     Lotus-Renault           1m28.266s  +2.452s  28
15. Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Mercedes       1m28.330s  +2.516s  21
16. Sergio Perez         Force India-Mercedes    1m28.376s  +2.562s  24
17. Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault           1m28.593s  +2.779s  24
18. Adrian Sutil         Sauber-Ferrari          1m29.025s  +3.211s  23
19. Kamui Kobayashi      Caterham-Renault        1m30.363s  +4.549s  30
20. Marcus Ericsson      Caterham-Renault        1m30.892s  +5.078s  24
21. Max Chilton          Marussia-Ferrari        1m31.004s  +5.190s  5
22. Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Ferrari        1m31.248s  +5.434s  20

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Azerbaijan confirms deal to host Formula 1 race from 2016
Next article Nico Rosberg admits difficulty in managing rivalry with Lewis Hamilton

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe