Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Verstappen resumes his good habits

The time for trials has come at the Hungaroring! The first cars are taking to the track without delay, starting with the Alfa Romeo of Robert Kubica, and even Valtteri Bottas in the first of the Mercedes, shortly followed by Lewis Hamilton, controversial figure of the clash at Silverstone with Max Verstappen.

The mercury shows 34 degrees in the air and over 50 on the ground! The tires are at risk of suffering, as is often the case.

The eyes were of course fixed on the Red Bull #33, whose engine for the British Grand Prix could or could not be affected by some damage.

The championship leader took to the track after 4 minutes of the session, while the first lap times were about to be set.

A number of drivers have opted for hard tires to start their session, just like Max Verstappen, who set a benchmark time of 1:19:725, nearly a second ahead of Pierre Gasly.

Lando Norris follows behind in 1:20:463, stealing the second place from Pierre Gasly.

Hamilton is improving just like Verstappen: the Dutch driver set a new best time of 1:19:366, 505 thousandths ahead of his closest rival in the championship, who clocked in at 1:19:871.

First impressive appearance for Fernando Alonso: the Spaniard, just 40 years old, finished 764 thousandths behind Verstappen, in a very promising 6th place.

Verstappen continued to improve, lowering the best time to 1:19:069. Valtteri Bottas, in 2nd place, is currently trailing by six tenths.

Fernando Alonso spun out at the exit of turn 4! The Bull of Asturias performed a nice pirouette, but lost a few parts on the kerb. Too bad, the Alpine seems to be performing well in his hands.

After 20 minutes of session, French drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are classified 8th, 9 tenths behind, while Esteban Ocon has just hit the track. He is the only one who has not set a time.

Yuki Tsunoda, in the second AlphaTauri-Honda, had a little scare at the end of the second sector: a flick of the tail at the entrance of turn 11, with no consequences for the Japanese driver.

Esteban Ocon emerged from the woods with 37 minutes to go: 4th fastest time! Not bad at all, considering that the Alpine seems to be performing well, despite the complete shift of resources to 2022. The Norman driver sets a time of 1:19:783.

Lewis Hamilton has been a little more discreet, as he is only in 8th place at the start of the first 30 minutes of these FP1.

It’s very complicated for Aston Martin. In order Lance Stroll – Sebastian Vettel, the Greens are only 15th and 16th.

Valtteri Bottas has decided to step on the accelerator: switching to soft tires, the Finnish driver, whose future at Mercedes is still uncertain, clocks 1:17:616. Esteban Ocon took advantage to climb up to 3rd place, just four tenths behind Max Verstappen, now in 2nd place.

Switching to soft tires for Lewis Hamilton as well, but nearly 4 tenths behind his teammate, the provisional leader. The Briton doesn’t seem to be pushing, even though we can see a bit of understeer on the Mercedes #44.

Hard tires are now being abandoned in favor of red softs, with 27 minutes remaining in the free practice session this morning.

Pierre Gasly placed himself in third position, half a second behind Bottas’ time. It’s quite interesting, even if we can’t exclude that the time gaps at this stage of the weekend are rather anecdotal.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez did not choose the red tires: hard compounds on both Red Bulls, likely doing race simulation work. Work usually reserved for FP2.

A blue car placed 5th: Fernando Alonso! A great performance by the Spaniard, seeming to work wonders with his A110, and it’s nice to see!

We had not mentioned Ferrari, but the SF21 cars are not left behind: Carlos Sainz in 3rd place at 499 thousandths and Charles Leclerc in 6th place at 775 thousandths. The midfield is quite tight.

BOOM: Yuki Tsunoda crashed with 19 minutes to go. Red flag in this session. The Japanese driver lost control of his AlphaTauri in turn 4 and suffered a snap oversteer. A bit too much optimism for #22 as he was a bit too wide at the corner entry.

After a few minutes, the session resumed at 12:16. Just a little quarter of an hour left to finish this first free session.

In the stands, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton offered a little domestic scene: the Red Bull came out just under the nose of the Britishman’s Mercedes. Perhaps this signals the resumption of a fierce battle this weekend!

Verstappen has pulled out the soft tires to finish this first job of the weekend. The Dutchman set the best time, in 1:17:555, just 61 milliseconds ahead of Bottas.

Lewis Hamilton did not have the opportunity to immediately attack the clock again, as Charles Leclerc was just in front of him. The seven-time world champion chose to stay behind the Ferrari #16.

Sergio Pérez finally put on the soft tires, but the Mexican still doesn’t seem to find the solution in the exercise of the quick lap: 911 milliseconds difference to Verstappen…ouch!

Anyway, Max Verstappen regains the lead in this session. He is ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

See you shortly for the second free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The ranking of the FP1.