Hungary – Free Practice 3: Grosjean Positions Himself Before Qualifying

The weather is beautiful and warm for these Free Practice 3 sessions of the Hungarian Grand Prix with a clear blue sky and a temperature of 31°C in the air and 44°C on the track. The drivers waste no time in hitting the track as they only have an hour before the qualifying sessions.

As soon as the light turned green, Paul di Resta was the first to take to the track, followed by the two Marussia drivers and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus. In the wake of these 4 men, all the drivers hit the track to complete one or two installation laps.

Charles Pic is the first to set a timed lap after 8 minutes, with the Frenchman recording a 1:30.044 as the initial benchmark at the wheel of his Caterham. This time is quickly improved by his teammate, who clocks a 1:28.404 before Pic retakes the lead with a lap of 1:24.692. Both Caterham drivers are on medium tires, preparing their race pace, as these are the hardest compounds available this weekend in Hungary.

After 15 minutes, it’s Kimi Räikkönen who is leading thanks to a lap in 1:22.717 set with new mediums. The Lotus driver is ahead of Pic, van der Garde, Vettel, Bianchi, and Chilton. Little activity on track in this first quarter of the session, but that won’t last as the majority of the drivers are on track.

Romain Grosjean takes the best time three-tenths ahead of his teammate, and neither Nico Rosberg nor Sergio Pérez manage to dislodge the Lotus driver despite very good laps from both men. It is finally Lewis Hamilton who takes the lead shortly before the halfway point of the session by just 79 thousandths. The Mercedes driver improves shortly after with a 1:21.942.

After 30 minutes, only three drivers had not yet set a timed lap: Esteban Gutierrez and the two Ferrari drivers, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. But the Spaniard was happy to change that by taking the track and setting his first time today at 1:22.772, which placed him in 6th position. Massa followed his teammate’s example but was slightly further back in 11th place for this first timed lap. However, there was still no sign of Esteban Gutierrez on the track, and for good reason, the Mexican had an issue with his Ferrari engine, and the Sauber team’s mechanics were in the process of replacing it.

15 minutes before the end of the session, Sebastian Vettel is in 19th position, the Red Bull driver having focused so far on a long stint with fuel to prepare for the race. At the front, Lewis Hamilton remains ahead of Romain Grosjean, who has slightly reduced the gap to the Mercedes. Following are Rosberg, Webber, Pérez, and Button.

With 12 minutes remaining, things have calmed down on track with only two drivers on the circuit, Rosberg and Hülkenberg, but everyone else is getting ready for a final run on track to prepare for this afternoon’s qualifying. The different drivers are going out on soft tires to seek performance.

Alonso is the first to set a time with the soft tires and improves his previous lap by 0.9 seconds. He takes the lead with a 1:20.898 ahead of Sutil and Räikkönen, who are unable to do better. Romain Grosjean manages to outperform his former teammate at Renault and takes the lead with a 1:20.730, setting the fastest times in sectors 2 and 3.

Shortly before the end of the session, Sergio Pérez loses control of his McLaren and crashes into a tire wall, prompting a yellow flag and few drivers improve. Consequently, Romain Grosjean finishes at the top of this session ahead of Fernando Alonso, Sergio Pérez, Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, and Adrian Sutil, who completes the top 10. Räikkönen is 11th. Notably, Esteban Gutierrez did not set a timed lap due to his engine problem.

Results of Free Practice 3 of the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

From our special correspondent at the Hungaroring