Vettel fastest, Kubica fourth on Day 2 of Hungary test

Sebastian Vettel has clocked the fastest lap time of the post-Hungarian Grand Prix test on a day in which Robert Kubica finished fourth in his first run in current-spec machinery.

Kubica racked up 142 laps of the Hungaroring in a Renault, his fastest a 1:18.572s, 1.448s slower than Vettel’s best.

The Pole was seventh quickest after the morning session before starting the afternoon with a series of shorter runs, many of which involved pitting in between to practice hitting his marks in the pit box.

The majority of the runs were on super-soft tyres, but he did three on the ultra-soft at the end of the day, enabling him to improve his position on the timesheets to fourth.

Kubica’s lap count, spread across 20 stints, amounted to the equivalent of just over two Hungarian Grands Prix.

The 32-year-old’s form during the test is considered to be crucial in determining whether he can complete a remarkable return to F1 next season, after a horror rally crash in 2011.

Given the test takes place just days after the Hungarian Grand Prix and in similar conditions, Renault had the chance for a like-for-like comparison against the benchmarks set at the weekend by Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer.

Vettel’s leading time set in the morning, on a day when he only completed two hours of running before handing the Ferrari over to team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, remained unchallenged in the afternoon.

Lando Norris, who is driving for McLaren in Hungary as part of his prize for winning the 2016 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, was the Ferrari’s closest challenger, though his best lap was on ultra-softs compared to Vettel’s super-softs.

Raikkonen was third quickest with Carlos Sainz Jr fifth behind Kubica, a quarter of second ahead of Toro Rosso team-mate Daniil Kvyat, who took over driving duties in the afternoon.

Mercedes DTM frontrunner Lucas Auer, who only drove in the morning, was seventh for Force India with Russian Formula 3 driver Nikita Mazepin driving the car after lunch and ending up ninth.

George Russell, who ran the halo cockpit protection device briefly on Wednesday, completed his second successive day of testing with Mercedes in eighth, with Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly 10th.

Formula 2 frontrunner Luca Ghiotto clocked up a staggering 160 laps, more than any other driver, on what was his first day of testing a F1 car. He was 11th quickest.

Haas development driver Santino Ferrucci and Honda F1 junior Nobuharu Matsushita ended up 12th and 13th respectively.

The session ended five minutes early following a third red flag in around 20 minutes.

Results: Post-Hungary test: Day 2