#F1 #HungarianGP FP1: @LewisHamilton heads @ValtteriBottas in @MercedesAMGF1 1-2.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton lead from team-mate Valtteri Bottas in a one-two for the Brackley-based squad in FP1 at the Hungarian GP.

Mercedes’ closest rivals Red Bull Racing, had a quiet opening practice taking eighth and 13th places respectively for Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon, while Ferrari once more finished well off the pace-setting F1 W11 EQ Power+ racers.

With clouds looming and the threat of rain in the air, Verstappen initially set the pace with a 1:19.536 – with sparks flying under the Honda-powered RB16.

The Dutchman lowered the benchmark in the first twenty minutes before the Mercedes duo put on the softs and comfortably held the top two spots right until the end.

Bottas first grabbed top spot, posting a 1:17.765 before Hamilton jumped the Finn, using his red-marked soft compounds to move ahead and they continually swapped positions until Hamilton secured top spot with a 1:16.126 just before the mid-point of FP1.

Mercedes told their drivers to remain on track to collect more data on the soft rubber due to the threat of rain – with spots falling during the early running – which saw Hamilton suffer a double lock-up at the first corner.

When the session hit 50 minutes, Hamilton and Bottas used a set of hards and mediums respectively, with both drivers improving at the top of the time-sheets.

Bottas reclaimed first place, setting a 1:16.089 on his yellow side-walled tyres, before Hamilton took back top spot with a 1:16.003 – super quick lap on Pirelli’s hardest compound available.

BWT Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who also endured a huge lock-up into the first corner, where he ran close to the barriers and deep into the run-off area, lead his team-mate Lance Stroll in third place.

The Mexican was 0.527 seconds slower than Hamilton’s Hungarian GP FP1 benchmark, with the other Racing Point driver a further 0.437 seconds adrift in fourth.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was running a large aerodynamic device attached to his R.S.20 racer in the early running, was fifth ahead of the Ferrari pairing.

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc were seventh and eighth respectively with the former posting a 1:17.238 and the latter a further 0.166 off his team-mate.

Ferrari ran it’s Styrian Grand Prix-spec SF1000, where both drivers collided and double DNF’d on the opening lap, as the Maranello-marque bought it’s full updated package it was aiming to bring to the Hungaroring, forward by one race.

Verstappen ended FP1 in eighth place – sliding around on his red-branded soft rubber and wound up 1.432 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s Hungarian GP FP1 benchmark time.

McLaren’s Lando Norris took ninth and in-front of Renault’s Esteban Ocon who completed the top ten.

The other Renault-powered MCL35 McLaren of Carlos Sainz was 11th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s 12th-placed Kevin Magnussen.

Red Bull Racing’s Albon was 13th after having his soft tyre flying lap deleted after running wide at turn 11, but the Thai-Briton was able to set a quicker time, and ended up 1.724 off Hamilton’s Hungarian GP FP1 benchmark effort.

The second Ferrari-powered VF-20 Haas entry of Romain Grosjean followed in 14th and ahead of Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi who took 15th and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat who was 16th.

The two Alfa Romeo Racing C39’s of Antonio Giovinazzi and reserve driver Robert Kubica (substituting for Kimi Raikkonen in FP1) ended opening practice in 17th and 19th respectively with the latter spinning out in the earlier running on colder hard tyres.

Williams Racing’s George Russell was sandwiched between the two Alfa Romeo’s in 18th place.

The other Scuderia AlphaTauri AT01 of Pierre Gasly took no part in opening practice as the Faenza-based outfit was forced to investigate an issue with his Honda power-unit.

You can read the full Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydij (Hungarian GP) 2020 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1047/hungary/practice-1.html

You can read this weekend’s Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydij (Hungarian GP) 2020 Race Preview at the following link: #F1 Aramco #HungarianGP 2020 Preview. #HungaryGP