Fourth place for Max in Hungary FP2

Published on 22 July 2016 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen finished fourth in the second free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Fastest man on the newly tarmacked Hungaroring was once again a Mercedes driver, this time it was Nico Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) and Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) completed the top three.

“I’m fairly happy after the first day”, said Max after FP2 to Verstappen.nl. “We’ve taken our time and the long runs went really well. The balance of the car and the tyres feel good. We can improve in the shot runs but I’m confident we will. We’re not too far of Mercedes and we’re fighting Ferrari. Now we’ll work hard to close the gap to Mercedes. Second row on the grid should hopefully be possible.”

At the start of the session, track temperatures have risen to 47 degrees. Romain Grosjean in his Haas F1, is the first driver to clock a time on the warmed up tarmac of the Hungaroring. Raikkonen and the two Mercedes quickly topple the Frenchman’s time. Both Red Bulls also post their first flying laps with the Daniel Ricciardo and Max sitting in third and fourth place.

Fifteen minutes into the session, Lewis Hamilton causes a red flag. The world champion loses control of his Mercedes at turn 11. He is able to get back to the pits, but his session is over. After the tyre wall is whipped back into shape, the session resumes with Rosberg leading the way.

In the second half of FP2, both Red Bulls head out for long runs on the super-soft Pirellis before switching to medium for more long runs.

With fifteen minutes remaining, Carlos Sainz is forced to park his Scuderia Toro Rosso trackside with a technical problem. Jolyon Palmer’s unlucky campaign continues within technical issues limiting the Renault driver to a handful of installation laps in session that sees Rosberg on top, followed by Vettel and the two Red Bulls.

Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring - Friday 22 July 

RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 1

01  6 Nico Rosberg        Mercedes                    1:20.435             45
02  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:21.030   +0.595s   36
03  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:21.348   +0.913s   31
04 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:21.770   +1.335s   35
05 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:21.960   +1.525s    4
06  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:22.058   +1.623s   46
07 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:22.328   +1.893s   21
08 22 Jenson Button       McLaren Honda               1:22.387   +1.952s   34
09 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Force India Mercedes        1:22.449   +2.014s   41
10 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:22.653   +2.218s   38
11 21 Esteban Gutierrez   Haas Ferrari                1:22.673   +2.238s   38
12 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:22.681   +2.246s   39
13 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:22.689   +2.254s   24
14 77 Valtteri Bottas     Williams Mercedes           1:22.773   +2.338s   38
15  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:22.864   +2.429s   28
16 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:22.948   +2.513 s  43
17 20 Kevin Magnussen     Renault                     1:23.347   +2.912 s  41
18  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:23.437   +3.002s   36
19 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:23.528   +3.093s   12
20 12 Felipe Nasr         Sauber Ferrari              1:23.986   +3.551s   31
21 94 Pascal Wehrlein     MRT Mercedes                1:23.992   +3.557s   22
22 88 Rio Haryanto        MRT Mercedes                1:24.265   +3.830s   36 

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