» Hamilton tops eventful first practice in Hungary

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