Vettel topped the fastest time in the morning session ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, in third Robert Kubica
Car 5 Sebastian Vettel: “I think this morning didn’t really give a clear picture of each team’s pace, but this afternoon it was tighter. The Ferraris seem very quick again here, on both the long and short runs. They will be quick again tomorrow and we also shouldn’t forget the McLarens; they have proven many times this year that they can make a step forward from Friday to Saturday. It’s a difficult track here, quite bumpy and rough, but the car feels good.”
Car 6 Mark Webber: “That was pretty good – we got through everything we wanted. The car ran faultlessly and the guys did a good job. The track keeps getting quicker and we learned quite a bit today. The Ferraris look quick again, so we’ve got to keep an eye on them – you never know what fuel loads people are running on Friday. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Sebastian and Mark dominated the first two Hungarian Grand Prix sessions, with Seb quickest in both. But in the afternoon Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso managed to split our drivers. But times were – as in Hockenheim – tight: there was only 0.899 of a second between Vettel and fourth placed Massa this afternoon.
It was a positive day for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, with a lot of work completed and signs of being competitive. In the morning session, the team worked mainly on the evaluation of various new technical solutions for forthcoming races and on a comparison of some aerodynamic configurations. In the afternoon, the focus switched to finding the best set-up on the F10 and a comparison of the two types of tyre brought here by Bridgestone.
Fernando Alonso: “I hope we can stay close to our main rivals, who seemed very strong today and be able to fight them in Q3 tomorrow afternoon. For now, we are still a bit behind by a few tenths, even if we won’t know the truth until qualifying. We certainly need to work on the set-up of the car to improve its performance, especially in the second and third sectors. Compared to Hockenheim, where the car was well balanced, here we are suffering with a bit too much understeer, but all the same it feels pretty good. We did various aerodynamic tests and, in the end, it seems the car is more competitive without the blown rear wing. Overall, we are happy with how things went today, even if we are well aware that one cannot rely much on Friday’s times. As for McLaren, whom one should not forget lead both championships, we seem to have the upper hand, but so often we have seen them struggle on a Friday before then being very competitive. Tomorrow afternoon, it will be very important to secure a place in the top three because it would be hard to fight for the win starting further back.”
It has been a very busy day for Renault cars – busier than normal because they have had a lot of parts to test and both drivers, car crews and engineers have done a very good job to get through the work load. Both drivers appear to be going well here, although they were running slightly different programmes today.
It can often be quite dirty off the racing line at this circuit, but it was better than usual. The track was in good condition from the start of the day, although it certainly improved in the afternoon.
Renault did a rear wing comparison with Vitaly and ran our floor upgrade with both cars. They also have a new front wing here and both cars will run with all these parts tomorrow.
Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi were both quite happy with the balance of their cars. In the afternoon the team tried several set-up changes without making any immediate progress. Now it is time to analyse the data. The race on Sunday at the Hungaroring will be the 300th Grand Prix entered by Peter Sauber’s team.
The Force India F1 Team's Hungarian Grand Prix preparations got underway today with the opening two free practice sessions at the twisty, undulating Hungaroring on the outskirts of the capital city of Budapest.
With Adrian Sutil giving the team's new blown diffuser its initial outing, his programme was focussed on gathering as much data as possible. Paul di Resta, replacing Tonio Liuzzi for the first session, completed his first laps of the Hungaroring, with his schedule consisting of circuit familiarisation and the establishment of a good baseline set-up for the weekend. The Scot ran the 'normal' diffuser, allowing the team to complete back to back evaluation with the blown diffuser.
Lotus Racing finish the day just under one second ahead of their nearest rival and complete a total of 88 laps, despite a hydraulics problem on Heikki’s car which curtailed his running in the afternoon session.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:20.087 33
2. Alonso Ferrari 1:20.584 + 0.497 34
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:20.597 + 0.510 36
4. Massa Ferrari 1:20.986 + 0.899 33
5. Petrov Renault 1:21.195 + 1.108 33
6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.308 + 1.221 30
7. Kubica Renault 1:21.375 + 1.288 37
8. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:21.623 + 1.536 41
9. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.730 + 1.643 33
10. Schumacher Mercedes 1:21.773 + 1.686 31
11. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:21.809 + 1.722 38
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:21.844 + 1.757 36
13. Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.039 + 1.952 28
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.212 + 2.125 37
15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.469 + 2.382 43
16. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:22.507 + 2.420 22
17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.602 + 2.515 38
18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:23.138 + 3.051 36
First PracticePos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:20.976 29
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:21.106 + 0.130 27
3. Kubica Renault 1:22.072 + 1.096 21
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.444 + 1.468 17
5. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:22.601 + 1.625 25
6. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.764 + 1.788 24
7. Alonso Ferrari 1:22.772 + 1.796 25
8. Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.777 + 1.801 25
9. Schumacher Mercedes 1:22.792 + 1.816 26
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:22.966 + 1.990 25
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:23.003 + 2.027 19
12. Massa Ferrari 1:23.007 + 2.031 26
13. Petrov Renault 1:23.249 + 2.273 24
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:23.327 + 2.351 23
15. di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:23.520 + 2.544 19
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.780 + 2.804 22
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.868 + 2.892 28