Lewis Hamilton on top in rain-hit second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix

The dry running was compressed into the first half of the afternoon, as although the rain was relatively brief and the temperatures remained hot, the track received too heavy a soaking for slicks to be viable thereafter.

Conditions had been hot and sunny at the start of the session, but with rain looming on the radar, teams hurried to get on track, leading to a busy start. Kimi Raikkonen was fastest for a spell in his Lotus, before the Ferraris moved ahead - Felipe Massa slightly quicker than Fernando Alonso.

The rain-conscious frontrunners then switched to the soft tyres shortly after the half-hour mark, leading to a busy period in which Jenson Button (McLaren), Alonso and then Raikkonen swapped the top spot between them.

Hamilton had to abandon one quick lap when he came across Charles Pic's Marussia in the final sector, but just before the rain began, he was able to show his speed with a 1m21.995s.

That put him 0.185 seconds clear of Raikkonen, while Bruno Senna thrust his Williams into third place, ahead of the Ferraris and Button.

Behind seventh and eighth-placed Paul di Resta (Force India) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), the top 10 was completed by two drivers who met the barriers during the afternoon. Romain Grosjean had an early incident when he ran wide on the exit of the chicane and spun back across the track, taking the front wing off his Lotus on the inside barrier. He was able to get back to the pits and quickly rejoin under repairs.

Michael Schumacher was less fortunate. For the second Friday in succession, he crashed in the wet, locking up on intermediate tyres and sliding straight on into the tyres at the Turn 11 right-hander at the end of the penultimate straight.

The Mercedes driver's incident was a warning to the other drivers who were getting some wet mileage, but it did not deter many of the field from coming out on intermediates in the final half-hour, as much of the circuit dried completely while other sections remained sodden..

Pos  Driver                Team                  Time              Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m21.995            20
 2.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m22.180s  + 0.185  20
 3.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m22.253s  + 0.258  33
 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m22.417s  + 0.422  28
 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m22.582s  + 0.587  22
 6.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m22.747s  + 0.752  17
 7.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m22.794s  + 0.799  23
 8.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m22.824s  + 0.829  18
 9.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m22.922s  + 0.927  12
10.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m23.160s  + 1.165  19
11.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m23.164s  + 1.169  28
12.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m23.337s  + 1.342  26
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m23.713s  + 1.718  25
14.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m23.814s  + 1.819  17
15.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m23.841s  + 1.846  28
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.328s  + 2.333  23
17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.345s  + 2.350  27
18.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.623s  + 2.628  22
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m24.823s  + 2.828  28
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m25.220s  + 3.225  28
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.104s  + 5.109  27
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m27.106s  + 5.111  18
23.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.185s  + 5.190  22
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m27.822s  + 5.827  20

All Timing Unofficial