Daniel Ricciardo proved Red Bull will be tough to beat as he posted the quickest time in first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.
The Australian would set a 1m17.613s on his second flying lap using the Soft compound tyre to beat Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari by 0.079s, with the German using the Ultrasoft rubber which is two steps softer.
Traffic potentially hampered Vettel too but even so, Max Verstappen backed up Red Bull’s pace in third, just 0.009s slower than Sebastian also on the yellow-marked Soft Pirelli compound.
Kimi Raikkonen was a third of a second back in fourth as Mercedes had a difficult start to the weekend with Lewis Hamilton struggling for grip in fifth and Valtteri Bottas having to return to the pits after flat-spotting his tyres soon after fitting them, leaving him down in sixth.
Lock-ups and spins were a feature of the session, as drivers got the grips with the always dusty Hungaroring circuit on a Friday morning. Turn 1 was a key action spot with Bottas and Sauber reserve Antonio Giovinazzi ruining their tyres under braking and Max Verstappen would spin on the exit after running a little too wide.
Marcus Ericsson was another with several incidents, including a spin after touching the grass approaching the final corner and another later at Turn 4, forcing the Swede back the pits.
In the midfield, the battle looks set to be between Haas and Renault once again with Romain Grosjean moving into P7 late on as the American team looks to continue their run of being ‘best of the rest’.
Nico Hulkenberg would be eighth for the French manufacturer, that despite pulling off an hour into the session after his car shut down.
The German’s teammate Carlos Sainz would be ninth as the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10.
Hungaroring’s lack of power-sensitivity could also give the junior Red Bull team Toro Rosso a chance for a better weekend, as highlighted by Pierre Gasly in 11th.
McLaren similarly is hoping to capitalise on a circuit which has been kind to them in recent years, although only P12 for Fernando Alonso is probably lower than they were hoping for.
Lance Stroll put his Williams in 14th, as the Grove-based squad looks to continue the progress made at Hockenheim as Force India struggled with Esteban Ocon 15th and Sergio Perez 17th.
Giovinazzi, making his second Friday appearance in as many weekends, continued to disappoint with some small errors although would be the lead Sauber in 18th with Sergey Sirtokin and Ericsson completing the timings.
A full look at the final results can be seen below:
