BUDAPEST, Hungary- Even after his triumph at home just three weeks ago, Sebastian Vettel proved that a break does not stop him as the Three time world champion and series leader set both fastest times of the two Friday practice sessions for
Sunday’s Grand Prix of Hungary at the Hungaroring.
The German just edged out his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber in the latter session, with a top time of 1:21:264 with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean making it a three car
sweep for its Renault powered vehicles by placing in third.
For the opening session set in perfect weather, the same result occurred as both Vettel and Webber were one -two for Red Bull, while Kimi Raikkonen was the third quickest in the other Lotus. Vettel’s top time in this session was a 1:22:723. Although his chances are over for next year’s Red Bull second seat, Jean-Eric Vergne ended up in 14th but spun in turn four and luckily the Frenchman just stopped before he hit the barriers. Mercedes, who was banned from the last young driver’s test last week in Silverstone, England, because of its penalty for testing tires after the Spanish Grand Prix, came out with no knowledge of what could happen with new Pirelli rubber, and it showed as Nico Rosberg finished in eighth and only got one installation lap after spending the first half hour in the garage. As for his English teammate, Lewis Hamilton, there was not much more improvement as he
locked up at turn two and ran wide many times.
In the last session of the day, Raikkonen fell back and finished in eighth, complaining mostly of blistering on his tires when running on high fuel loads. Besides the Red Bull and the Lotus teams, Ferrari was also in the hunt, with Fernando Alonso finishing fourth in the final session, recording a 1:21:426, while
teammate Felipe Massa was right behind him, a tenth back of the Spaniard.
The Saturday qualifying session seems to be favoring Red Bull and being challenged by Lotus,
Ferrari and possibly Mercedes for the top grid positions.
Mark Gero has written formula one racing stories since 2002 on the Internet for such sites as Motorsport.com, Racing Information Service News and for a brief time at the Munich Eye newspaper in Munich, Germany along with Autoweek online. Mark also has a diploma in journalism from the London School of Journalism in London, England and in addition a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa.