Valtteri Bottas Tops 2021 Hungarian Friday Practice

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas emerged fastest from Lewis Hamilton upon conclusion of Friday Practice for 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. 

Bottas emerged fastest after FP2 after finishing 0.061 seconds off Max Verstappen in FP1 as the Finnish driver enjoyed his strongest start to a race weekend this season, as questions continue to surround his Mercedes future.

Hamilton meanwhile played second fiddle to Bottas in both sessions but was only 0.027s off his teammate come end of FP2 as Verstappen settled for third just under 24 hours since Red Bull’s appeal concerning the Dutchman’s British GP collision with Hamilton was rejected.

Now here is a full roundup of Friday Practice for 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.

 

FP1

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Several drivers opted to conduct early running with Verstappen going quickest in the opening ten minutes with 1m 19.725,  before lowering his benchmark to 1m 19.366 as Fernando Alonso recovered from a sideways spin at Turn Five just 15 minutes into the session.

Verstappen shortly afterwards further lowered his benchmark to 1m 19.025 as Yuki Tsunoda had a spin at Turn Five, before several drivers opted for an early soft tyre qualifying simulation with Bottas emerging quickest from Hamilton before Tsunoda brought out the red flags with just under 20 minutes left.

The young AlphaTauri driver had lost the rear-end of his car at Turn Four and slid backwards into the barriers to cause a seven minute red flag, with Verstappen thereafter opting for a soft tyre qualifying simulation which proved enough to top the session with 1m 17.555.

Bottas consequently had to settle for second ahead of Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris and Lance Stroll.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1m 17.555
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	+ 0.061
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+ 0.167
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+ 0.560
5	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	+ 0.626
6	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	+ 0.830
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.836
8	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+ 0.911
9	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 1.094
10	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.200
11	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 1.210
12	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+ 1.215
13	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	+ 1.434
14	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	+ 1.710
15	George Russell	Williams	+ 2.169
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	+ 2.269
17	Mick Schumacher	Haas	+ 2.828
18	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo	+ 3.028
19	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	+ 3.437
20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 4.334

 

FP2

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In a busy start to session, several drivers opted to head out on mediums with Leclerc setting the initial pace with 1m 19.654 but times quickly began to tumble throughout opening runs, as Bottas found himself sat top from Verstappen and Hamilton.

Attention mid-session switched to qualifying simulations with Bottas emerging fastest overall of not just FP2 but Friday overall, posting a 1m 17.012 which was 0.027s quicker than Hamilton as Verstappen finished third quickest after suffering understeer on his soft tyre lap.

Ocon, Perez, Gasly, Alonso, Vettel, Norris and Stroll rounded out the top ten at the checkered flag after everyone enjoyed uninterrupted race simulations, whilst Tsunoda only made it out on track for the final two minutes following major repair work to his AlphaTauri and managed to finish 17th quickest.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m 17.012
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+ 0.027
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.298
4	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 0.747
5	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+ 0.812
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	+ 1.101
7	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	+ 1.157
8	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	+ 1.216
9	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 1.301
10	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.308
11	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 1.358
12	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+ 1.429
13	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	+ 1.725
14	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	+ 2.265
15	George Russell	Williams	+ 2.280
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	+ 2.467
17	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+ 2.659
18	Mick Schumacher	Haas	+ 2.805
19	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 3.174
20	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	+ 4.869