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Lewis Hamilton led the way in training on a weather-interrupted Friday in Budapest while teammate Valtteri Bottas suffered engine issues.
The Brit was fastest in Friday’s first training session for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, setting a lap time of 1:17.233 which would be the fastest lap of the entire day.
“FP1 was a good session,” Hamilton said. “Naturally I wanted to come into the weekend feeling better and getting straight back in the car and on it.
“Straight from the get-go the balance was quite nice. We made some changes in the break but unfortunately didn’t get chance to test them.”
Wet weather curtailed the afternoon practice session as track conditions meant there was no running for almost half of the 90-minute session.
That spelt disaster for Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes as he completed just two laps in the first session before an engine issue stopped his running. The team took the option to change the engine but that meant he took no further part in the first practice session.
The chances of salvaging his day were pinned on the second session but the change in weather conditions dashed any opportunity for him to catch up as he only managed a further two laps in the dry whilst the team continue to investigate the problem.
“During the first timed lap I lost power and then had some misfires,” Bottas explained.
“We decided to swap the power unit for practice two in the hope of doing more laps but the conditions meant we didn’t.”
Red Bull may have topped the second session with Pierre Gasly ahead of Max Verstappen but their times were in no way representative as they set them just as the track began to dampen.
Elsewhere, Bottas wasn’t the only driver to have a disappointing day as McLaren’s Lando Norris was side-lined from much of FP2 thanks to a hydraulic issue whilst Alexander Albon crashed heavily at the start of the session, causing significant damage to his Toro Rosso car.
What this does mean is that the rest of the weekend could be quite unpredictable with there only being one hour of practice left.
The weather is expected to gradually improve as the weekend progresses as the action continues Saturday morning.
