Free Practice 2 – McLaren and Renault at the front rows

Lewis Hamilton managed to set the fastest lap in the late Friday afternoon during the Free Practice 2 of the Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren has successfully caught up with Ferrari, which had dominated the first session.

For much of the session, the McLarens monopolized the top positions but were joined at the end by Nelson Piquet’s Renault, who finished second. Kovalainen is therefore third ahead of the 2005 and 2006 world champion, Fernando Alonso. The latter used ‘super-soft’ tires for his final run.

Hamilton was the leader after seven minutes of testing. For the majority of the time, it was the McLarens who were at the top of the timesheets. However, the two teammates swapped places several times. The focus was on evaluating the new wings forming the nose of the car tested at Jerez.

Six minutes from the end, Hamilton equipped himself with soft tires to achieve a time of 1’20”554, which was the best of the session. Kovalainen was behind as he was overtaken by Nelson Piquet.

His teammate, Alonso takes fourth place after heavy braking at turn 1. He finishes the afternoon ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa and the BMWs of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.

Jarno Trulli (Toyota) is ninth, and Nico Rosberg in the Williams proves he has resources with a 10th place finish. His teammate, Kazuki Nakajima, was the author of the most serious incident when he brushed a wall on his last lap. In the end, more sensational than anything else since he was able to continue the session.

The only other sour note was another disappointment for Sebastian Vettel. In the morning, a hydraulic failure immobilized him after only four laps, and in the afternoon, he completed just five laps before stopping at the same spot on the track.

Hungarian GP – Free Practice 2 – Results