Budapest: McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, a surprise winner last weekend in Germany, continued to shine when he was fastest in both practice sessions on Friday for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Red Bull's Mark Webber crashed and lost his front wing in his first outing and was only fourth quickest second time out. Briton Hamilton has won twice at the Hungaroring and showed his love of the ageing circuit in the hills outside Budapest by setting the pace on a cloudy day with a quickest lap in the second session of one minute, 21.018 seconds.
He edged out 30-year-old birthday boy Fernando Alonso of Ferrari in his second workout with Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race set to be close affairs again after last weekend's nail-biting German Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring.
World champion Sebastian Vettel, second fastest in first practice, was fifth quickest in the later session as previously dominant Red Bull played about with their cars to try to discover why McLaren and Ferrari have matched them in the last two races.
Australian Webber, second in the championship but 77 points adrift of team mate Vettel, lost control under no pressure and struck the barriers in front of half-full stands.
He drove slowly back to the pits and his lost wing was retrieved. Mercedes' woes went on with Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg failing to break into the top six in either session as McLaren's Jensen Button and Ferrari's Felipe Massa completed the now almost obligatory sextet.
Reserve drivers Bruno Senna of Renault and Force India's Nico Hulkenberg drove Nick Heidfeld and Adrian Sutil's cars for the opening session with both finishing halfway up the timesheets before handing the wheel back to the regular drivers, who performed better in the second stint.
Comments
0 comment