Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton heads the pack in practice for Hungarian GP

Published on Friday 29 July 2011 17:41

Lewis Hamilton continued his resurgent return to form by taking the honours in both of yesterday's practice sessions for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton has begun this weekend as he finished the last in Germany - out in front in his bid for back-to-back victories for the first time in more than a year with McLaren.

Hamilton finished the opening 90-minute practice session at the Hungaroring 0.214 seconds clear of championship leader Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull, posting a lap of 1:23.350sec.

In the afternoon, as the track started to rubber in as it is rarely used outside of a Formula 1 weekend, Hamilton slashed more than two seconds off that time as he maintained top spot.

Around what is rightly regarded as a tight and twisty track, the 26-year-old covered the 14 turns of the 2.722-mile circuit in a time of 1:21.018sec.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, celebrating his 30th birthday, proved to be his nearest challenger, with the Spaniard 0.241sec adrift, while Jenson Button was also in the mix in his McLaren.

On the occasion of his 200th Grand Prix this weekend, and at the scene of his first victory in 2006, Button was just 0.304sec down.

Remarkably, neither Red Bull was in the top three, with Mark Webber ahead of Vettel in a car that required minor repairs during the gap between the two sessions after a spin in FP1.

The 34-year-old Australian buried the nose of his car in a barrier before twice pirouetting through 360 degrees. The only damage sustained was the loss of the front wing that was collected by a marshal as Webber was able to slowly return to the garage.

In FP2 Webber finished half a second behind Hamilton, with Vettel 0.531sec off the pace, although it can be expected that Red Bull will raise their game in qualifying today.

Red Bull and Alonso will be hoping for far hotter temperatures for the rest of the weekend if they are to put Hamilton and McLaren in the shade.

The cooler climes, with a high of just 23 degrees in comparison to the searing heat that is often experienced at this time of year, are undoubtedly helping Hamilton.

Behind the leading quintet, it was a case of as you were to earlier in the day, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa a second adrift in sixth.

The Brazilian was followed by Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg - competing in his 100th race - and seven-times champion Michael Schumacher.

Force India again look strong, with Scotland's Paul di Resta ninth and team-mate Adrian Sutil tenth, both just under two seconds off the pace.

The Hispania duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Vitantonio Liuzzi again sat at the bottom of the timesheet, around seven seconds down. However, Australian Ricciardo at least managed to turn the tables on his Italian team-mate compared to their positions in the morning as he finished half a second quicker.

Meanwhile, Turkey looks set to be dropped from next year's F1 calendar.Empty stands have characterised the unloved race since it appeared in 2005 and, although still on the 2012 calendar, rumours are rife that the race will be axed by Bernie Ecclestone.