Hungary: Hamilton keeps control

After a day of Friday dominated by McLaren, the third free practice session should provide more information on the behavior of the cars, before qualifying. Alonso, Rosberg , Buemi and Kovalainen set the first reference times, on a track that was significantly colder than during the second session. Heikki Kovalainen, first to go under 1’23??, demonstrates that McLaren is back in the game (1:22??833). His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, sets a time (1:22:280) which will serve as a reference for all the drivers during a large part of the session.

Jaime Alguersuari, who is doing his fourth hour of testing on the new STR4, is doing a series of laps to get his bearings. The young Spaniard, like Sébastien Buemi, achieves very convincing times. He climbed into second provisional position (1), before improving several times. Alonso then improves Hamilton?s time, before the latter regains his possession (22:652??1). Massa, after a difficult day on Friday, was the first to go under 22?074??, in 1?22??1. Toro Rosso seems to benefit from recent developments, Alguersuari approaching to four tenths and Buemi to two tenths of Massa. At the same time, Adrian Sutil cannot take advantage of the improving track conditions to achieve a good time. The German makes a mistake and destroys the front of his car.

Lewis Hamilton, at the very end of the session, confirmed his good intentions at the Hungaroring, lowering the reference mark twice, resulting in an excellent time (1:21:207). In the process, Heidfeld, Rosberg and Kovalainen approached this time but Hamilton improved one last time (1:21:009). The hierarchy is established without the Brawn GP single-seaters and Red Bull. The latter, being almost a second behind Hamilton?s time, are at the back of the top 10. Barrichello and Button are alongside the second half of the peloton. Buemi, with the ??news?? Toro Rosso, enters the Top 5, just like Heidfeld, rarely used to such a party this season. Before qualifying, the lines are blurred and the cards redistributed.