Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel edged Red Bull rival Max Verstappen during Friday’s second practice session for Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Verstappen fronted a Red Bull 1-2 during the early running on Soft tyres but Vettel moved ahead when the field switched to the Ultrasoft compound to conduct low-fuel qualifying simulations.
Last year’s pole sitter and race winner clocked a time of 1:16.834 to finish 0.074s clear of Verstappen, with FP1 leader Daniel Ricciardo two-tenths back in third place.
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Kimi Raikkonen finished another tenth of a second behind Ricciardo as he collected fourth spot, while Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas again placed fifth and sixth.
Hamilton and Bottas both had scrappy efforts on their Ultrasoft runs, meaning their best times were set on Soft tyres during the initial phase of action.
Hamilton made a mistake through the final turn while Bottas went wide at Turn 12 and aborted his run, as they wound up seven-tenths and one second behind Ricciardo respectively.
Haas’ Romain Grosjean again spearheaded the midfield group in seventh place, and held a comfortable gap of four-tenths back to eighth-placed Carlos Sainz Jr.
French pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon capped the top 10 for Toro Rosso and Force India respectively, as the latter’s team-mate Sergio Perez headed a closely-matched gaggle of drivers.
Just 0.066s covered Perez, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg and Brendon Hartley, with the middle trio both encountering delays.
Alonso reported a brief loss of power early on while Hulkenberg only joined the action halfway into the session, as Renault completed a precautionary Energy Store change after his FP1 stoppage.
Magnussen was another to report an engine glitch while he also complained of “massive understeer” on his VF-18, finishing eight-tenths down on team-mate Grosjean.
Marcus Ericsson had another spin, this time at Turn 8, having rotated his Sauber C37 twice in FP1, and has been summoned to the stewards over an alleged unsafe release during a practice pit stop; Sauber immediately instructed Ericsson to halt his car, and he did so at the end of the pit lane.
Charles Leclerc had sat out the day’s opening session to allow reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi further experience in the C37 and upon his return the Ferrari-backed youngster finished 17th, a tenth behind his team-mate.
Lance Stroll was the lead Williams driver in 18th position, half a second behind nearest opponent Leclerc, with team-mate Sergey Sirotkin at the back.
Stoffel Vandoorne’s difficult spell continued as he dipped a wheel onto the grass on the entry to Turn 5 and dramatically spun his McLaren MCL33, cocking a tyre into the air in the process.
Vandoorne avoided hitting the barriers but he placed a low-key 19th, eight-tenths down on team-mate Alonso, the Belgian having reverted to an old chassis in a bid to get on top of the loss of downforce that plagued him in Britain and Germany.
Saturday’s one-hour third practice session will begin at 12:00 local time
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