Hamilton quickest as Webber crashes in Hungary

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has set the pace during the opening day of running at the Hungaroring.

The Briton topped both 90 minute practice sessions, setting a best time of 1:21.02s less than an hour into the afternoon’s running.

In what looks likely to be a highly competitive weekend between the sport’s top three teams, Fernando Alonso ended the day second fastest in the Ferrari, 0.21s behind Hamilton, with Jenson Button a further 0.078s adrift in the second McLaren.

The Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the day fourth and fifth respectively, despite a rare error from the Australian in Practice 1.

Webber lost control of his RB6 at Turn 9, shooting across the kerbing and into the barrier – breaking his front-wing. The car was undamaged enough to be driven back to the pits, but took no further part in the opening session.

“”I made a mistake this morning when I got on the damp kerb,” said Webber at day’s end.

“I’ve seen a few of those over the last few years, but drivers still don’t learn – we still go out there and push!

“I clipped the ‘turf and hit the barrier, but fortunately only the front wing was damaged.

“We recovered pretty well this afternoon and got a lot of mileage in. The car ran well and we have lots of info to go through tonight.”

Rounding out the top 10 after Practice 2 were Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Paul di Resta (Force India) and Adrian Sutil (Force India).

Daniel Ricciardo ran strongly in the afternoon, besting fellow Hispania Racing Team driver Tonio Liuzzi by over 0.5s.

See below for the session results

Practice 1

 Practice 2

View Speedcafe.com’s Budapest Race Guide below