Sebastian Vettel had a very bad weekend in Germany but he comes to the Hungarian Grand Prix with big expectations. While some have argued that it is a track Mercedes could struggle on, one might think Ferrari are set for clean sailing but the track happens to favor the Red Bull and that’s who set the second and third fastest time of Free Practice 2 on Friday.
Could the Bulls be in for a Monaco-style surprise in Hungary? Can the Ferrari’s keep them behind or will Mercedes find a solution to their lack of pace?
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m16.834s | – | 45 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m16.908s | 0.074s | 35 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m17.061s | 0.227s | 36 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m17.153s | 0.319s | 40 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m17.587s | 0.753s | 43 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m17.868s | 1.034s | 46 |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m18.065s | 1.231s | 39 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1m18.495s | 1.661s | 38 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m18.518s | 1.684s | 43 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m18.761s | 1.927s | 41 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m18.850s | 2.016s | 42 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Renault | 1m18.857s | 2.023s | 38 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m18.880s | 2.046s | 35 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m18.913s | 2.079s | 23 |
| 15 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m18.916s | 2.082s | 41 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m19.043s | 2.209s | 42 |
| 17 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m19.137s | 2.303s | 38 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m19.645s | 2.811s | 45 |
| 19 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Renault | 1m19.712s | 2.878s | 38 |
| 20 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams/Mercedes | 1m19.770s | 2.936s | 45 |
I didn’t get to see FP2, any news on the long run pace of the cars?
That can often give more of an indication of how the race will play out than the single lap time.
Also is Ricciardo subject to more grid penalties after his retirement in Germany?
I didn’t see the long-run pace reports.
And I thought you were a Delphic Oracle, have I been wrong all these years?
The lap times from FP2 are here:
https://www.fia.com/file/71224/download?token=2h0r8znh
This doesn’t list which tyres were used. However if anything, Bottas looks marginally faster than Vettel, followed by Verstappen.
Ricciardo has yet to fit any new PU elements, he is using a high mileage early specification unit, and so is likely to be down on power compared to his team-mate.
Thank you Delphic Dave. Just by eye, its not easy to pick which has the better pace. It looks like a ‘long run’ at pace is 2 to 6 laps, and that a lot of the drivers run a fast / slow cycle towards the end of each session (before pitting). The top 6 are all showing similar pace, but without knowing the tyres, its hard to know if those times are comparable. Just watching FP3, and the Mercedes looks to be a handful, but they are getting lap times close to Ferrari, with RBR lagging a bit. I’ll have… Read more »