From dry to very wet, many drivers did not attempt a flying lap during Friday’s second practice session. Showers are in the forecast for Saturday’s qualifying.
BUDAPEST, Hungary—July 17th—Ferrari is going through hard times. But on this day of steady afternoon rain, the Italian carmaker got a ray of sunshine. Sebastian Vettel set the best time in Friday’s practice session in preparation for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.
The German’s best time of 1:40:464 was set with only 12 laps of driving. Along with Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Charles Leclerc were the only drivers who attempted double figures in laps.
That said, Hamilton had the best time in the opening morning session at 1:16:003, and he was followed by Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. But those times were set when the track was dry.
In the afternoon session, Vettel’s time was 0.2 seconds quicker than Bottas, who (again) finished second. Carlos Sainz Jr. was third in his McLaren, followed by Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez. Pierre Gasly was sixth. Max Verstappen, who only recorded four laps of driving, was seventh, while Raikkonen was ninth. Leclerc finished tenth in the second Ferrari.
For the American Haas F1 Team, Romain Grosjean welcomed the different conditions, placing eighth.
Teammate Kevin Magnussen, like Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, and Esteban Ocon, took only a lap before returning to the garage. He concluded that it was impossible to try a flying lap on the very wet circuit.
The challenge of driving in wet conditions is likely to continue. On-and-off showers are in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday–something that’s rare in Hungary during this time of year. If the rain continues, then this weekend in Formula 1 could be a repeat of what happened last week in Austria: anything goes when conditions are uncertain.
