Max fixing balance, severe crash for Perez in first practice

Published on 24 July 2015 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen finished in tenth in the first free practice of the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Scuderia Toro Rosso-driver was the most productive as he lapped the track some 27 times. Max was 1.8 seconds shy, with a 1:26.934, of Lewis Hamilton who, in turn, led the pack in front of his Mercedes-team mate Nico Rosberg.

“We gradually built up the first free practice. This morning there was of course not much grip", Max explains to Verstappen.nl. “It’s very hot on the Hungaroring, so with these temperatures you quite fast reach the optimum of the tyres. The car’s balance isn’t where it should be at this moment, so in the second practice we are going to work on that to get some improvement and also find some more grip.”

During the first part of the first free practice, Max is able to improve on his lap time constantly. He shifts from a high 1:28, quickly to a low 1:27. After half an hour, when the whole field make their way back to the pit, to return the extra set of (medium compound) tyres, the Dutchman has already done some thirteen laps and with a 1:27.329 he is fifth.

After an hour in the first practice, Max clocks his fastest time (1:26.934). Not much later, Sergio Perez is in dire straits as he crashes severely and also does a somersault. The Force India-car gets on the kerbs when exiting turn eleven, causing the right rear suspension to fail. As a result, the Mexican slides over the track, hits the barriers and halts after having done a somersault. Luckily Perez walks away unscathed.

That accident triggers the first code red, which is maintained until fifteen minutes before the session ends. Everyone gets on track again to make use of the final minutes, but Max is still not pleased. “I don’t have any grip more in the tyres. The degradation is tremendous”,  he reports to his team.

Moments later, with some five minutes to go, the front wing of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari is shattered when he himself drives over it in turn twelve. The culprit seems to be a punctured front left tyre, which caused the front wing to make contact with the kerbs, thus generating a halo of pieces of carbon. For a second time the red flag is shown and with just one minute to go, the track is given clear again. But only a few head out for a lap.

Nevertheless, Raikkonen is “best of the rest”, behind the Mercedes-duo. Red Bull Racing follows with Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat in P4 and P5.

Hungarian Grand Prix – Hungaroring – Friday 24 July

 P  No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps 
 1  44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:25.141         18 
 2   6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:25.250 +0.109s 22 
 3   7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:25.812 +0.671s 23 
 4   3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:26.053 +0.912s 20 
 5  26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:26.070 +0.929s 17 
 6   5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:26.395 +1.254s 14 
 7  55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:26.727 +1.586s 25 
 8  11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:26.776 +1.635s 14 
 9  77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:26.825 +1.684s 19 
10  33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:26.934 +1.793s 27 
11  14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:27.272 +2.131s 16 
12  22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:27.308 +2.167s 17 
13  27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:27.317 +2.176s 11 
14  19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:27.381 +2.240s 19 
15  12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:27.409 +2.268s 24 
16   9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:27.732 +2.591s 23 
17  13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:28.568 +3.427s  9 
18  28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:29.693 +4.552s 17 
19  42 Fabio Leimer       Marussia      1:30.631 +5.490s 18 
20  30 Jolyon Palmer      Lotus                           4 

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