Hungarian GP – Free Practice 2: Hamilton, Alonso and Button tame the Red Bulls

With a track temperature of 24°C and an ambient humidity of 72%, the drivers rush out of the pits, with representatives from Toro Rosso, HRT, and Virgin. This time, the drivers waste no time in setting their first timed laps, with Alguersuari setting the initial benchmark at 1:27.596 on super soft red-sided tires, before Sergio Perez and then Petrov improve on this time, with the Russian setting the mark at 1:25.560, immediately lowered by the Mexican to 1:24.679.

But Hamilton and then Massa bring out the heavy artillery, with the Brazilian setting the best time at 1:22.928. The McLaren sports a different rear wing than the one seen this morning, as the Woking team, having tested a wing for the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix, has returned to a configuration more suited for the Hungarian circuit.

For his part, visibly annoyed, Rubens Barrichello takes out his frustration on a Virgin by overtaking it rather roughly in the pit lane.

If Vettel takes the best time with 1:22.666, Jenson Button improves with 1:22.536 followed by Fernando Alonso with 1:22.297: all the drivers are then on soft tires with yellow sidewalls.

After Button took back the fastest time with 1:22.091, Fernando Alonso launched an attack on his time, improving lap after lap his fastest time—especially thanks to a very good second sector, before finally taking the fastest time with 1:22.070.

After half an hour of testing, Fernando Alonso is at the top of the timesheets ahead of Button, Vettel, Massa, Hamilton, Webber, Alguersuari, Di Resta, Perez, and Sutil. Nick Heidfeld, replaced by Bruno Senna in the first session, is in 15th place while Michael Schumacher—who suffered differential problems in the morning—and Nico Rosberg are in 17th and 18th respectively.

While the action seems to calm down on the track, Felipe Massa is the first of the top drivers to put on the super soft red-sided tires. On an attacking lap and after setting the best time in the first sector, the Brazilian goes wide on a curb and cannot improve his time. It is ultimately his teammate, with the same type of tires, who will be the first to go under the 1:22 mark with a time of 1:21.259.

Also on super-soft tires, Sergio Perez puts in the effort and climbs to 7th place. Button, for his part, has a very good first sector but loses time in the second part and comes back to 63 thousandths off Fernando Alonso’s best time, while Lewis Hamilton flirts with the 1 minute 21 barrier by posting the best times in the 2nd and 3rd sectors: 1:21.018 for the Briton. However, on super-soft tires, neither Alonso nor Hamilton managed to improve their times in the laps that followed.

As the last half-hour approaches, McLaren and Ferrari are dominating the timing sheets, while the Red Bulls and especially the Mercedes are less prominent. On super soft tires, Rosberg slots in between Massa and Vettel in 6th place. The Red Bull driver zigzags to warm up his tires and sets off for a fast lap on super soft tires. The German had until then focused on his race and settles for the 5th fastest time, half a second off Hamilton’s best.

Not using his DRS and clocking laps around the 1:27 mark, Fernando Alonso is doing a race simulation on super soft tires. The Ferrari drivers are also the most diligent on the tracks: 24 laps for Alonso and Massa compared to 14 laps for Lewis Hamilton, 18 for Button, and 19 for the Red Bull drivers.

With only 20 minutes of practice remaining and everyone seemingly preparing for the race, the standings are as follows: Hamilton fastest ahead of Alonso, Button, Webber, Vettel, Massa, Rosberg, Schumacher, Di Resta, Sutil, Kobayashi, Perez, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Maldonado, Alguersuari, Buemi, Trulli, Petrov, Kovalainen, Glock, D’Ambrosio, Ricciardo, and Liuzzi. Vitaly Petrov seems stuck in his garage for several tens of minutes, while it should be noted that the Virgin and HRT drivers are currently beyond the 107% required to qualify.

The McLarens seem to be in their element in race rhythm, just like Fernando Alonso: « You are currently the fastest driver on long runs » his engineer tells Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso switches to the soft tires, the hardest that Pirelli will provide this weekend, while Massa does the opposite, replacing his soft tires with super softs. Ferrari takes the opportunity to practice pit stops, their weak point in Germany.

After his engineer asked Vettel to lap as long as possible in 1:27.5, the German clocked a time of 1:27.433 in response. On his side, Hamilton is consistently lapping in the 1:26 range: the McLaren shows a very impressive race pace, even considering possible differences in fuel loads and program.

No one improving, Lewis Hamilton once again sets the fastest time ahead of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. The Red Bulls seem slightly more off the pace than usual, while things don’t seem to be improving for Lotus Renault GP, with their drivers only in 14th and 17th positions.

Result of Free Practice 2 – 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix: