Lewis Hamilton has set the fastest time in the first practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix. His Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg was only a tenth of a second behind in second place while Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen – despite a dramatic front wing failure – was third.
Rosberg was quick to set an early benchmark in the session, posting a 1:27.306, although shortly after Rosberg posted the time, Hamilton registered a 1:26.286 to slot into first position where he stayed throughout the session.
Räikkönen briefly split the two Mercedes drivers, coming within half a second of Hamilton’s time. However, the Mercedes pair found their rhythm and started clocking times in the low 1m25s, ending first practice half a second quicker than the rest of the field.
The session was interrupted shortly before the one-hour mark when Sergio Pérez flipped his Force India on the exit of Turn 11. Pérez’s right rear suspension seemed to have failed after exiting Turn 11 on the rumble strip, which sent the Mexican into a spin and hitting the nose of the car into the barrier on the other side of the track. Then a loose rear wheel folded under the car which launched the Force India into a roll.
The car came to a standstill upside down when Pérez slid out of the cockpit unharmed. He was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks but was quickly cleared.
The red flag was brought out for a second time due to debris on the track left from Räikkönen’s front wing. The Finn had been traveling over the rumble strip on the exit of Turn 12 when his front wing failed and slid underneath the car, causing a right front puncture. Räikkönen made it back to the pits but due to the track being cleared, the session didn’t restart with enough time left for any driver to improve on their lap time.
Jolyon Palmer stepped in for Romain Grosjean at Lotus for the sixth time this year, although failed to register a lap time, as the team only received their allocated tyres earlier than morning instead of the usual Thursday. This was apparently a consequence of late payments to Pirelli.
Both Palmer and Pastor Maldonado set an installation lap 30 minutes into the session, although didn’t return to the track until the last 15, finishing with a total of 13 laps between them.
2013 GP2 Series champion Fabio Leimer made his Formula 1 weekend debut for Manor Marussia, stepping in for Roberto Merhi. Leimer completed 18 laps and ended the session 0.9 seconds adrift of Will Stevens.
Formula 1 Pirelli Magyar Nagydíj 2015 – Free Practice 1 Results | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos | Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | |
1. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid | 1:25.141 | 18 | |
2. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid | 1:25.250 | + 0.109 | 22 |
3. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T | 1:25.812 | + 0.671 | 23 |
4. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11 | 1:26.053 | + 0.912 | 20 |
5. | Daniil Kvyat | ![]() |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11 | 1:26.070 | + 0.929 | 17 |
6. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T | 1:26.395 | + 1.254 | 14 |
7. | Carlos Sainz | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10 | 1:26.727 | + 1.586 | 25 |
8. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B | 1:26.776 | + 1.635 | 14 |
9. | Valtteri Bottas | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37 | 1:26.825 | + 1.684 | 19 |
10. | Max Verstappen | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10 | 1:26.934 | + 1.793 | 27 |
11. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
McLaren Honda MP4-30 | 1:27.272 | + 2.131 | 16 |
12. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Honda MP4-30 | 1:27.308 | + 2.167 | 17 |
13. | Nico Hülkenberg | ![]() |
Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B | 1:27.317 | + 2.176 | 11 |
14. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37 | 1:27.381 | + 2.240 | 19 |
15. | Felipe Nasr | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34 | 1:27.409 | + 2.268 | 24 |
16. | Marcus Ericsson | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34 | 1:27.732 | + 2.591 | 23 |
17. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid | 1:28.568 | + 3.427 | 9 |
18. | Will Stevens | ![]() |
Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B | 1:29.693 | + 4.552 | 17 |
19. | Fabio Leimer | ![]() |
Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B | 1:30.631 | + 5.490 | 18 |
20. | Jolyon Palmer | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid | no time | 4 |
Image via XPB Images
Josh Kruse
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