FP1: Hamilton, hard-paced, attacks 2019 practice times

07/17/2020 USA


Publication date: July 17, 2020

Chasing an eighth record win at the Hungarian GP, ​​Lewis Hamilton made his mark in FP1, going faster than all the free practice times set last year at the Hungaroring.

Upon reaching the Hungaroring for the third race in F1’s triple opening header, the Hungarian Grand Prix, the story was Lewis Hamilton and he will not match Michael Schumacher’s record for the most wins in a single grand prix. .

If Hamilton wins on Sunday, it will be his eighth Hungarian GP, ​​and he will tie the German in the first of Schumacher’s records that the Mercedes driver is chasing this season.

Hamilton ventured on his first lap 15 minutes into the session with title challenger Max Verstappen at the top of the timesheets with a 1: 18.3. His teammate Valtteri Bottas, who leads the championship by six points before Sunday’s race, hit the front before Hamilton checked it out and then Bottas was even faster, 1: 16.5. Hamilton hit back with a 1: 16.1.

Robert Kubica, replacing Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo for the first practice, had a turn coming out of the wells when a few drops of rain fell.

Mercedes held the 1-2 down on soft tires after the first 40 minutes as drivers returned to the pits to return their first set of tires to Pirelli. Sergio Pérez was third on hard tires ahead of Lance Stroll with Nicholas Latifi, on soft Pirellis, to fifth place. Charles Leclerc in the media was P6.

While his rivals faced off, Pierre Gasly continued to sit in the pits without a single lap on the board. When his AlphaTauri was turned on for the start of FP1, Honda noticed an anomaly with his data. He did not put a single turn.

Romain Grosjean broke the silence when he left the pits to start the second part of the session with others, including Mercedes’ teammates, who followed him. Several chose to go out on new soft tires, hoping to take advantage of a break in the light drizzle.

Bottas was faster with a 1: 16.0, 0.037s ahead of Hamilton, while Perez closed the gap with the Mercedes drivers, just 0.6s down. Stroll did the same, sitting 0.3 seconds behind. Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault advanced fifth ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc and Verstappen. The Dutchman was 1.3 seconds slower than the Mercedes drivers.

Verstappen called Latifi “beep, beep, blind beep” as the Canadian got in the corner of Turn 1, while Stroll also complained that a Williams had “blocked” him entirely. His teammate, Pérez, had a massive blockage, left the track and discovered his tires. He faced off and did not return to action.

Hamilton returned to the track on a set of hard tires and placed a 1: 16.003 to beat FP1 ahead of Bottas. The gap between the protagonists of the title only 0.086s with Pérez 0.527s out of rhythm.

Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1: 16.003 37 hard laps
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.086s 37 laps medium
3 Sergio Perez Racing Point 0.527s 20 laps smooth
4 Lance Stroll Racing Point 0.964s 35 smooth laps
5 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1,197s 28 laps medium
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1.235s 26 laps medium
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1,401s 29 laps medium
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1,432s 28 smooth laps
9 Lando Norris McLaren 1,520s 26 smooth laps
10 Esteban Ocon Renault 1.612s 35 laps medium
11 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1,672s 32 laps smooth
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1,710s 35 laps medium
13 Alex Albon Red Bull 1,724s 28 smooth laps
14 Romain Grosjean Haas 1,887s 35 laps medium
15 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1,966s 31 medium
16 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri 2,289s 35 laps medium
17 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 2.422s 30 laps medium
18 George Russell Williams 2.571s 29 laps medium
19 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo Racing 3.147s 26 laps medium
20 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri no return

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