EL2 in Budapest: Vettel's response, the Mercedes still discreet

Sebastian Vettel ends the day on Friday with the absolute best mark and a time of 1’16”834. The pilot Ferrari takes in its wake the two RB14s of Max Verstappen et Daniel Ricciardo, who was the fastest in EL1.

Kimi Räikkönen finished 4th again, far ahead of the Silver Arrows of Lewis Hamilton et Valtteri Bottas. The Briton is at 0,753s, while his Finnish teammate is beyond second.

« Hungary is a very different track from the other tracks, declared Toto wolff, main team of the Grays, between the two free sessions. The mercury continues to rise, so we have to fine-tune the settings and understand how the tires work to, I hope, be present in qualifying on Saturday ».

Behind the usual suspects, the rest of the Top 10 is rounded out by Romain Grosjean and the best of Haas, Carlos Sainz and the highest ranked Renault, as well as the two other French representatives, Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) in front Esteban Ocon (ForceIndia).

At the back of the pack, Sauber and Williams hardly seem dashing at the end of this first day of action on the track, while the misfortunes of Stoffel Vandoorne, who returned to an old chassis after two very complicated weekends at Silverstone and Hockenheim, continue. The Belgian, who notably experienced problems with the deployment of energy in EL1, spun in the afternoon after putting a wheel in the grass at the start of turn 5.

In the light of the first journeys in Magyar lands, Mercedes Did she hide her game compared to her Italian and Austrian rivals? Can the four-time world champion team react and prevent a completely red front row as was the case on the Hungaroring turnstile last year? Red Bull does it have the means to hold its own against its competitors on a track where engine power plays a lesser role than on other circuits?

Answer on Saturday, first with Free Practice 3 between 12:00 p.m. and 13:00 p.m. then especially the qualifying session which will be followed live with commentary on CARhebdo.fr 15 p.m. to 00 p.m.

FP2 CLASSIFICATION (90/90 MINS): Vettel on top after day one, Mercedes with work to do #HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/z9VlLJ7go7

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