#HungarianGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen heads time-sheets ahead of @ValtteriBottas. #F1

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the time-sheets in a disrupted FP1 session at the Hungarian GP ahead of Mercedes pairing Valtteri Bottas and championship rival Lewis Hamilton who completed the top three.

 

 

Reserve Alfa Romeo Racing driver Robert Kubica, filling in for Kimi Raikkonen in opening practice. set the first effort of a 1:25.259 on the C2 white-marked harder compounds, but was rapidly demoted down the order a by a string of quick laps as the majority of the field posted their initial times on the hard rubber.

 

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Mercedes’ Bottas and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly all enjoyed a momentary spell at the head of the times, with the latter setting a 1:20.670 before Verstappen lowered the benchmark under the 1:20’s range.

 

The Red Bull drivers’ 1:19.925 immediately put the Dutchman over a second faster, before Hamilton who aborted his first flyer on the harder tyres despite setting a purple in the opening two sectors. slotted into second place and 0.146 seconds off of Verstappens’ Hungarian GP FP1 benchmark.

 

But Verstappen continued posting the fastest laps as he completed a long opening stint – where Honda was checking for engine issues caused by his crash at the Copse corner barriers on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix following his controversial collision with Hamilton.

 

The Dutchman posted a 1:19.366 just after Hamilton set his initial effort at the end of the opening ten minutes, then setting a 1:19.069 and a 1:19.025 as the session’s first 15 minutes ended and he returned to the pits.

 

After a brief silence on track approaching the halfway point, the Mercedes duo emerged on the C4 red side-walled softer tyres, with Bottas posting the initial flying lap on the quicker rubber.

 

The Finn’s 1:17.616 put him at the top of the time-sheets, with Hamilton’s opening run on the softs putting him 0.380 seconds off in second, as the seven-time world champion struggled with under-steer.

 

After a front wing adjustment to his F1 W12 racer, Hamilton pushed again and closed in to be 0.106 seconds adrift of team-mate Bottas, as Verstappen continued to set personal best efforts – now well down the classification – using the harder compounds.

 

But after the session was red-flagged due to AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda crashing at turn four – the high-speed left hand corner at the end of sector one where Ferrari’s Felipe Massa ended up in the barriers after being hit in the head by a spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn at the 2009 event – Verstappen swapped to the softs.

 

The Dutchman began his hot lap 0.119 down on Bottas in the first sector, but continued to improve as the tour went on – posting the session’s best in the middle sector despite some traffic at the turn five long-right in the form of Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher – and ended up the quickest with a 1:17.555.

 

Bottas thus finished FP1 in second place and 0.061 adrift of Verstappens’ Hungarian GP FP1 benchmark, with Hamilton third, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fourth and AlphaTauri’s Gasly completing the top five.

 

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso, who suffered a high-speed spin through the fourth corner in his A521 racer during the early proceedings, came sixth in the classifications, in-front of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who also encountered a moment at turn four and an early excursion through the turn five run-off area after catching a snap of over-steer.

 

The second Honda-powered RB16B of Sergio Perez completed a late stint on the softs to post the eighth quickest time – with McLaren’s Lando Norris – another driver who went off after catching a snap of over-steer, his at the last corner just before the red flag – taking ninth place and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll rounding out the top ten.

 

The other Alpine of Esteban Ocon was 11th and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda, who did not return after his crash.

 

The Japanese driver spun at turn nine – the right hand 90-degree in the middle of sector two – after his correction to a snap of over-steer sent the AlphaTauri crazily around just past the opening 15 minutes, before his crash interrupted a session.

 

Tsunoda spun earlier in the fourth corner than Alonso, losing the rear of his Honda-powered AT02 racer as he turned in and then spinning to his right at quick speed as the car came around wildly – again after the AlphaTauri driver had moved to correct the car.

 

But the second movement spun his AT02 racer around backwards and hit the barriers – rear wing first at high-speed – from where the AT02 had to be craned away before the session could continue.

 

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was 13th and ahead of McLaren’s Ricciardo in 14th and Williams Racing pairing George Russell and Nicholas Latifi who were 15th and 16th respectively.

 

The aforementioned Haas and Alfa of Schumacher and Kubica were 17th and 18th with their respective team-mates Nikita Mazepin and Antonio Giovinazzi bringing up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Magyar Nagydij (Hungarian Grand Prix) 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification by clicking here at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1073/hungary/practice-1.html

 

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#Formula1 #HungarianGrandPrix 2021 Race Preview. #F1 #HungarianGP