Free Practice 2: McLaren drivers set the pace

Lewis Hamilton delivers a remarkable performance by displacing his teammate Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg, who finished second and third, in the final minutes of the second free practice session. The weekend is in full swing at the Hungaroring circuit in Hungary, and the McLaren team seems very competitive.

It is therefore a more than promising double for the silver arrows, which ran under beautiful sunshine and, most importantly, good temperatures: 28°C in the air and 45°C on the track. The wind is less intense than this morning. Nico Rosberg for Williams is currently their closest competitor. Championship leader Jenson Button is only 13th for Brawn.

After securing first place this morning, the second session starts off with a bang for Kovalainen as he achieves his best time of 1:22.126 after only 25 minutes on soft tires. This time allows him to remain on top for over an hour.

Hamilton initially seemed incapable of competing as he was caught in heavy traffic on the Hungarian circuit. He eventually found the resources to beat his teammate on his third attempt by 0.047 seconds.

Rosberg is only 28 thousandths behind the Finn and thus finishes in third place.

Mark Webber in the Red Bull finishes fourth, which is an honorable position even though his RB5 suffered a hydraulic problem in the last part of the session. The Australian and recent winner of the German Grand Prix will not leave the pits.

Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastian Vettel finish in the top six with the second Williams and the second Red Bull ahead of Rubens Barrichello, the best of the Brawn drivers.

Jarno Trulli still finished eighth with an electrical problem at the beginning of the session on Toyota’s TF109. The Italian had to return to the pits but had time to get back on track.

This is a difficult afternoon for Ferrari and mainly for Felipe Massa. The Brazilian made numerous off-track excursions and finished only 18th, but just one second off the pace of the McLaren.

In front of him, there are of course people with Nick Heidfeld in the BMW entering the top 10 (9th), just like Timo Glock, the second Toyota driver (10th). In fact, Massa’s teammate, Kimi Räikkönen, is 11th. The Renaults are not in the game with Fernando Alonso in 12th place and Nelson Piquet Jr. in 15th. Finally, Robert Kubica (BMW) is in a modest 14th place.

Further ahead of Massa, the Force India drivers with Adrian Sutil ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella. Behind Massa, finally, the two Toro Rosso drivers with, of course, the young Jaime Alguersuari behind Sébastien Buemi. The Spaniard had problems and finished far behind all the other drivers in terms of lap times. He is the slowest tonight, he will be excused!

Free Practice 2 Results – Hungarian GP – Friday, July 24, 2009: