Hungarian GP: Nico Rosberg chasing his tail in F1 practice

Reigning champion Hamilton finished a tenth of a second quicker than Rosberg at the end of FP1 at the Hungaroring on the medium-compound Pirelli tyre.

In FP2 when the quicker soft rubber was used, Rosberg found himself seven tenths of a second down on Hamilton, with the Mercedes pair split by Red Bull duo Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo.

Rosberg said: "Not ideal today. I couldn't find the balance in the car.

"It went from oversteer to understeer, a bit difficult to explain, but I was always chasing my tail in a way.

"That's something I'm not very happy with, which I just need to work on for tomorrow.

"Tomorrow morning is qualifying practice, so I've enough time to get into it and sort it out, but at least race pace was very good."

Rosberg feels the searing heat in Budapest - with an air temperature of 31 degrees and a track high of 53 - also played a part in his woes.

"It was very, very hot out there," declared Rosberg.

"It's physically tough because you are sitting on the ground, and the ground is 53 degrees, so the temperature comes straight through and makes it very demanding.

"It is quite consistent over the day, which helps. It's usually more difficult when it changes completely during a weekend.

"But still the balance is changing, which I don't understand. I need to figure that out."

Hamilton, a four-time winner at the circuit, believes he was able to find more of "a rhythm" than his team-mate.

"The car's really on a knife-edge with these temperatures and these tyres," Hamilton said. "It's a massive challenge.

"I'm happy with the car. The balance was relatively good all day, I'm comfortable with the tyres.

"I hope I can take what I have today into tomorrow and Sunday."