Hungary – Free Practice 1: Daniel Ricciardo Surprises Everyone, Mercedes Falls Back
Sebastian Vettel dominated the top of the timesheet for two-thirds of the session before Daniel Ricciardo surged to reclaim it. A duel between Red Bull and Ferrari seems to be taking shape at the start of the weekend, while Mercedes shows more difficulties on the Hungarian track. Romain Grosjean is the best of the French drivers with the 7th fastest time ahead of the Renaults.
Formula 1 arrives in Hungary for the last Grand Prix before the summer break. A week after Lewis Hamilton’s unexpected victory in Germany and Sebastian Vettel’s disappointment in front of his home crowd, the 20 drivers in the discipline will make it a point to start their vacation on a positive note.
For this first free practice session of the weekend, the top drivers waste no time hitting the track. Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo’s two Red Bulls, as well as Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari, already set an initial benchmark time with a 1.18.710 for the Finn on Ultra soft tires, a few hundredths ahead of the Austrian cars on Medium tires. The latter arrive at the Hungaroring as favorites on this winding circuit that should suit the heavily downforce-loaded RB14s.
Following the death of their former President, Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari cars feature a black band on their single-seaters and on the drivers’ suits. The Haas team also pays tribute to the Italian with a photo of him on the air intakes of their cars.
Ferrari are paying their respects to former chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne this weekend, with a black stripe on the top of the cockpit. pic.twitter.com/qEpTWB1rYi
— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 juillet 2018
At Sauber, Charles Leclerc gave up his seat to Antonio Giovinazzi for the morning, while at Williams, as during last week’s practice sessions, they are using this day to test new aerodynamic features on their car. The British team needs to find quick solutions to the lack of efficiency in their 2018 model…
Trialing a new livery concept. What are your thoughts? #FP1 #HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/isFxppoy8O
— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) 27 juillet 2018
After the first half hour, a hierarchy begins to establish. Vettel places his Ferrari at the top with a time of 1.18.218. He is followed in the Top 10 by Valtteri Bottas and his Mercedes, Räikkönen, Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton in the other silver arrow, the two Renaults of Carlos Sainz and Nico Hülkenberg, Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso with his McLaren, and the Frenchman Pierre Gasly with his Toro Rosso. The two Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Giovinazzi bring up the rear just as the teams typically return their first set of tires to Pirelli and a lull settles on the track!
As the drivers gradually return to the track, Romain Grosjean exits his car. The Frenchman has complained of a balance issue on his Haas, and his mechanics are inspecting the floor. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll manages to get his Williams into the top 10. This Grand Prix could be a great opportunity for the Canadian to score some points!
Few mistakes were made this morning during this first session. However, Marcus Ericsson, after his initial scare in the last corner, gets another fright by going a bit too wide in turn 4. He loses the rear but manages to control it to avoid hitting the tire wall.
Another spin for Ericsson. “It wasn’t the bumps, he just carried too much speed around the corner,” says Davidson
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#SkyF1 #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/wmbsWIBZyv— Sky Sports F1 🏎 (@SkySportsF1) 27 juillet 2018
Two minutes later, Nico Hülkenberg loses the electronics in his Renault at the same turn. His car shuts down, and he must stop at the side of the track and step out. Once the German driver’s car is cleared, the race against the clock resumes. Hamilton had fallen short by 39 thousandths of a second to Vettel earlier, but Räikkönen manages to surpass his teammate. However, it doesn’t last long as Vettel regains his position and finishes with a 1.17.692.
Confirming the competitiveness of the Austrian single-seater, Verstappen is just a whisker behind the Scuderia driver with a time only 9 thousandths slower. Hamilton seems to have more difficulty extracting the potential from his tires and is sliding in the second sector.
He seemed slightly off the pace since the beginning of the session, but Daniel Ricciardo proved to be the fastest by clocking a 1:16.613 on softs. With this performance, Hamilton and Bottas are pushed out of the top 4. As expected, Renault positions itself as the fourth team at the start of the weekend with 6th and 7th places.
In the Sauber garage, Ericsson’s car is on the trestles for a change of the damaged floor plate caused by the Swede. The session ends earlier for him. The final minutes passed peacefully at the pace of the initial race condition runs, and Brendon Hartley disrupted this calm by losing the rear in the last corner. The runoff area allowed him, like Marcus Ericsson before him, to avoid hitting the tire wall.
The final ranking of the session:
CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP1)
Daniel Ricciardo takes the top spot in the opening session
Red Bull and Ferrari leading the Mercedes pair so far…#HungarianGP 🇭🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/NBJuaEDEmp
— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 juillet 2018
