Hungary – Free Practice 2: Hamilton Ahead of the Rain

In Budapest, a track heated to 44°C (29°C in the air) awaits the drivers, including Nico Hülkenberg (Force India), Bruno Senna (Williams), and Narain Karthikeyan (HRT), who have returned to their respective seats after watching Free Practice 1 from the pit wall, as the third drivers were out on track.

As soon as the green light is on at the end of the pit lane, the Marussia drivers rush onto the track. The rest of the pack soon follows Glock and Pic’s lead, with most not returning to the pits to start their work session directly.

After testing the Double-DRS during Free Practice 1, Kimi Räikkönen quickly gets into the rhythm in the “classic” configuration of the Lotus E20. At the end of a lap where the Finn spared no effort, the 2007 World Champion clocks a time of 1:22.950. His teammate, just as aggressive as the native of Espoo, pays the price after the chicane, damaging the nose of his Lotus against the wall after losing control of his car on a curb: the Frenchman has to make a trip to the pits.

After fifteen minutes of testing, Kimi Räikkönen is ahead of Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton, Kamui Kobayashi, Romain Grosjean, Nico Hülkenberg, Pastor Maldonado, and Nico Rosberg. However, Sebastian moves up to sixth place thanks to steady improvement, lap after lap.

The leader of the world championship, Fernando Alonso, quickly takes the lead with a lap time of 1:22.899. However, the Spaniard’s time is soon beaten by his teammate with a 1:22.831 lap.

While some expect a thunderstorm to disrupt the end of the tests, the drivers quickly put on the Soft tires. Romain Grosjean is actually the first to fit the yellow-striped tires brought to Budapest by Pirelli: the Frenchman climbs to 9th place on his first flying lap.

At McLaren, while Lewis Hamilton continues on Medium tires, Jenson Button works with Soft tires. But the native of Frome is unable to complete a real benchmark time before seizing the fastest time at 1:22.747 after two laps over 1:27.

Threatened by Kimi Räikkönen – who eventually secured second place – Jenson Button’s best time was beaten by Fernando Alonso, also on soft tires, with 1:22.582. On track to beat the Spaniard’s time, Lewis Hamilton aborted his effort in the final sector, and it was Kimi Räikkönen who eventually outpaced the Ferrari driver with a lap of 1:22.180. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel, still on Medium tires, completed a lap in 1:22.804, seven-tenths off Räikkönen’s best time.

Thus, halfway through the session, Räikkönen leads Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, Senna, Button, Di Resta, Vettel, and Schumacher. While a few drops of rain appear on the circuit, Lewis Hamilton takes the lead, yet loses two tenths to Kimi Räikkönen in the final sector. Bruno Senna, on form, takes third place, ahead of the two Ferrari drivers.

Caught off guard by the rain, Heikki Kovalainen saw his Caterham CT01 slip away from him at the chicane braking zone without consequences, which still managed to dampen the enthusiasm of the drivers returning to the pits. It’s worth noting that in dry conditions, the drivers made fewer mistakes than in the morning, having had time to fine-tune their settings since Free Practice 1.

Daring, Michael Schumacher and Jean-Eric Vergne are the only drivers on track, respectively on Intermediate and Rain tires. Hamilton and Rosberg join the German while the Frenchman returns to the pits. But an off-track excursion by Michael Schumacher prompts the drivers to head to the pits. In turn no. 14, the Mercedes F1 W03, aquaplaning, ends up, at low speed, in the tire wall.

But it apparently takes more than that to discourage the drivers, with Bruno Senna, Timo Glock, Kamui Kobayashi, and Sebastian Vettel taking to the track, the German being the only one on Wet tires. The drivers have multiple minor off-track excursions due to tricky grip conditions, while in the pit lane, McLaren mechanics move Jenson Button’s MP4-27 back to the garage after it stopped in the pit lane.

Other storm showers being forecasted for the rest of the weekend, the drivers take the opportunity to drive in these conditions, favoring Intermediate tires, a chance to collect data on tire behavior for wet tracks but also to discover the Hungarian circuit in these track conditions.

If at the end of the session the track conditions improve to the point of encouraging the race management to once again allow the activation of DRS, they still do not allow for any improvement in the standings. Thus, under the checkered flag, Lewis Hamilton logically retains the best time ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and Bruno Senna. In ninth, Sebastian Vettel holds the best time on Medium tires while, in the rain, Michael Schumacher became a victim of an off-track excursion that should not have too many consequences for the rest of the weekend, as the rain disrupted all the teams’ programs.

Free Practice 2 Results of the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix: