Hungarian GP - A lot of laps
Hungaroring, 29 July - Just five days after the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, Formula 1 has decamped to another “Ring” this time the Hungaroring. Not much change in the name, nor in the top two places on the results sheet: at the end of the German Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was the winner for McLaren and Fernando Alonso was second for Ferrari and that is how the two men finished the first day of free practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The biggest change is that Fernando Alonso is now a year old than he was last week, as the Spaniard celebrates his thirtieth birthday today. It was a birthday which he and team-mate Felipe Massa, who was sixth fastest, spent working hard, racking up a big number of laps, 134 between them.
As usual, the in-season testing ban means that Friday’s three hours of track time has to be spent not only in preparation for Sunday’s race, but also evaluating new components brought to the track: at this point in the season, some teams slow their 2011 car development programme to concentrate fully on 2012, but those who are still fighting tooth and nail for this year’s titles cannot afford to do that. Here in Hungary, Pirelli has returned to what might be called Ferrari’s favourite tyre combination, the Soft and Supersoft for this weekend and it will be interesting to see how they perform in the higher temperatures we can expect for the next two days.
Third fastest today was Jenson Button in the second McLaren, ahead of Mark Webber, who damaged his Red Bull in the morning, after colliding with a barrier. Fifth is his team-mate and championship leader, Sebastian Vettel.
Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)
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