Final practice - Vettel strikes back for Red Bull
Red Bull struck back this morning at the Hungaroring, as Sebastian Vettel lapped in 1m 21.168s to head the final practice session. The world champion was 0.301s ahead of Fernando Alonso, who pushed up to 1m 21.469s for Ferrari late in a session blessed by warm sunshine and a track temperature of 35 degrees Celsius.
Jenson Button took third as McLaren lost yesterday’s advantage, the Englishman posting 1m 21.639s to go ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber on 1m 21.645s.
Behind them, Felipe Massa failed to break 1m 22s by a fraction, taking the second Ferrari round in 1m 22.002s to lead Nico Rosberg on 1m 22.534s for Mercedes and a troubled Lewis Hamilton whose 1m 22.667s was a long way from yesterday’s fastest overall time of 1m 21.018s.
On the face of it, it seems that Red Bull have regained their advantage, but qualifying this afternoon will be very close as teams calculate that the super-soft Pirelli tyre is only at its best over one lap. Avoiding traffic will be crucial.
Michael Schumacher was eighth for Mercedes on 1m 23.037s, followed by a gaggle comprising Vitaly Petrov on 1m 23.175s, Paul di Resta on 1m 23.276s, Nick Heidfeld on 1m 23.281s, Sergio Perez on 1m 23.375s, Kamui Kobayashi on 1m 23.626s, Rubens Barrichello on 1m 23.663s, Pastor Maldonado on 1m 23.894s, Adrian Sutil on 1m 23.966s and Jaime Alguersuari on 1m 23.998s.
Sebastien Buemi was 18th on 1m 25.061s, as Jarno Trulli continued to head the Team Lotus challenge with 1m 25.141s to team mate Heikki Kovalainen’s 1m 25.501s.Jerome D’Ambrosio was Virgin’s faster runner with 1m 26.955s ahead of an impressive Daniel Ricciardo on 1m 26.991 for HRT, with Timo Glock lapping his Virgin in 1m 27.174s and Tonio Liuzzi again in trouble with his HRT, which lost part of its front wing, 24th on 1m 27.713s.
Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)
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