Lewis Hamilton topped a boiling hot second practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix., but it was the two Red Bulls that were the ones to watch, with Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo finishing second and third – ahead of Nico Rosberg.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the Red Bulls though, as Daniel Ricciardo’s engine blew up and spewed oil all over the track at turn 9. The red flags were thrown to clear the car and track. He will not receive a penalty though, as it was a Friday unit. Max Verstappen was kept in the pit garage for most of the session, also suffering from power unit problems.
It does appear to be a happier time for those struggling with power units. Carlos Sainz made it three Renault powered cars in the top six, whilst Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were eighth and twelfth – thanks to the Hungaroring favouring a cars chassis instead of engine.
Under pressure Kimi Raikkonen was ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who spun at turns 1 and 11 in a scruffy session. He had a lot of handling issues, pitting for a ballast move to adjust the Ferrari’s weight distribution.
The new front wing appeared to work for Valtteri Bottas, he was 4 hundredths of a second ahead of his team mate. The Williams cars rounded out the top 10, with Verstappen – back out after his power unit issues were resolved – finishing 11th fastest.
Lotus and Sauber were top of the speed traps, but not of the lap time charts. Maldonado, Nasr, Grosjean and Ericsson occupied 13th – 16th, with Roberto Merhi finishing two thousandths of a second faster than his team mate Will Stevens – despite missing the first practice session to allow Fabio Leimer to make his F1 début. The Spaniard also saved an enormous tank slapper, which could have resulted in a big crash.
Following Sergio Perez’s enormous FP1 accident, neither Force India ran during the session. Whilst Perez’s car was rebuilt, the team opted not to run Nico Hulkenberg until they find out what caused the suspension to fail.
The track was once again green and dusty, catching out numerous drivers. Many drivers locked up into the first corner, whilst Grosjean sympathised with Sebastian Vettel by spinning at turn 12.
Despite it being Friday, both Red Bulls appear to be a real threat to Mercedes. If, as they did last year, the Silver Arrows slip up, the Bulls will be anxious to take a second win in a row at Hungary.
Image courtesy of Infiniti Red Bull Racing F1 Team
