GreenBkk.com Formula 1 | Practice One - Hamilton leads Vettel in Hungary

Practice One - Hamilton leads Vettel in Hungary

Lewis Hamilton gave McLaren another fillip by setting the fastest time in Friday morning’s first practice session for the Hungarian round, which was run in overcast but dry conditions with a track temperature of 23 degrees Celsius.

The 2008 champion, a winner here in 2007 and 2009, set the pace with 1m 23.350s, 0.214s clear of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull on 1m 23.564s and 0.292s up on Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who lapped in 1m 23.642s.

It was an eventful morning for Mark Webber, who crashed his Red Bull in Turn Nine, after spinning with 20 minutes to go. He was able to drive back to the pits but the nose and front suspension were damaged and he had to be content with 1m 23.666s which left him fourth in the line-up ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button on 1m 23.772s.

Felipe Massa led the next group with 1m 24.115s in the second Ferrari, ahead of the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher on 1m 24.250s and 1m 24.369s respectively. Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi gave cause for optimism that the Hungaroring will suit their Saubers better than did the Nurburgring, with ninth and 11th fastest times of 1m 24.620s and 1m 25.113s, sandwiching Vitaly Petrov in the faster of the Renaults on 1m 25.093s.

Paul di Resta edged out Force India team mate for the morning Nico Hulkenberg, 1m 25.336s to 1m 25.357s, while Rubens Barrichello took 14th for Williams on 1m 25.836s ahead of Bruno Senna who lapped in 1m 25.855s during his solid run in the second Renault.

The Toro Rossos of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari were as close as ever, with the Swiss edging out the Spaniard 1m 25.890s to 1m 26.099s. Then came Williams’ Pastor Maldonado on 1m 26.124s and Heikki Kovalainen in the leading Lotus on 1m 26.878s. Kovalainen’s team mate Jarno Trulli was 20th on 1m 27.352s.

At the back, Timo Glock lapped his Virgin in 1m 28.533s as a late improvement moved team mate Jerome D’Ambrosio ahead of the HRTs with 1m 28.903s. Tonio Liuzzi was the quicker of the Spanish team’s drivers with 1m 29.059s, with Daniel Ricciardo 24th on 1m 29.904s.

Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)