Category: Reviews

F1 2014: Singapore Lights Up Championship Fight

If there are only a handful of things that can be counted on as a certainty in Formula 1 one of them will be the erratic fickleness of it all. Singapore played the joker that may just have turned the 2014 F1 season on its head.

The unfortunate victim of the ever dependable randomness of F1 was Nico Rosberg. A healthy, even comfortable, 22 point lead was completely blown away as unreliability struck the German before the start of the Singapore GP. An apparent steering wheel problem relegated Rosberg to a pitlane start which only delayed the inevitable. With already having to stage a comeback from the back of the field Rosberg was lapping five second off the pace and eventually had to retire with an unresponsive car. Toto Wolff confirmed that the entire system had broken down due to the failure of a “lume within the steering column.”

It left Lewis Hamilton with the delectable opportunity of regaining the championship lead. However, the characteristics of the Marina Bay circuit and a safety-car period allowed both Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari to within striking distance of the Silver Arrow, or so they thought. It was to be nothing more than a far-fetched pipedream for those behind Hamilton as he easily dismissed their feeble attempts at beating him.

If Formula 1 is our religion then we need to bow down the designers of the W05 Mercedes. In the last decade we’ve seen the Red Bull domination net itself four world championship titles but it certainly did not boast a lap time advantage as great as three seconds.

Never let it be known that Hamilton isn’t a man who doesn’t rise to the occasion. The safety-car appearance meant the Brit would have to pit and re-take the lead in order to win the race. First he would have to build a gap to second place and within several laps Hamilton’s staggering pace had ensured that he would emerge in the thick of the Red Bull fight. His superior speed, and fresh rubber, easily saw him past Sebastian Vettel and just to rub a bit of salt in the wounds he again extended the gap to fourteen seconds by the chequered flag.

Ferrari showed improved pace on the Singapore streets and with added benefit of the supremely gifted Fernando Alonso the Scuderia’s weekend wasn’t too shabby at all. The never-say-die Spaniard once again unleashed a masterful driving performance. The double world champ got to within touching distance of the podium, even second place, but was stranded behind the two Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth.

What is it about this Fernando Alonso that makes him the wonder that he is? To consistently out-perform what he is given and make a car do things no one dares think is possible. He’s preference for over-steery cars makes the current Ferrari a bit easier to drive but beyond this there is very little of the F 14T that is good. Surely then it can only come down to him, it does. His relentlessness seemingly knows no bounds and there is very much a feeling of a single-minded stubbornness when Alonso is in the cockpit. The sort of tenacious belief that he will get a lap time out of that car come hell or high water. Even if he isn’t your Formula 1 be-all-and-end-all he is still to be admired and commended.

Felipe Massa defied belief, and all statistical predictions, as he completed a mammoth 35 lap stint on the soft compound tyres to finish fifth. Teammate Valtteri Bottas nearly pulled off the same feat but lost several positions on the final lap as his tyres finally gave up the ghost. Jean-Eric Vergne overcame two five-second penalties to finish a brilliant sixth.

There was a bit of argy-bargy and some lost carbon fibre in the mid-field between Sauber’s Adrian Sutil and Force India’s Sergio Perez. Perez suffered significant front-wing damage as he was squeezed up against the barriers by Sutil and the shards of carbon fibre strewn across the track were the catalyst for the safety-car deployment. It was a bit surprising that the Stewards didn’t penalise Sutil whose actions did appear a bit dicey. Nevertheless, Checo did stage a fine recovery to finish seventh.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen never recovered from a software glitch in qualifying and finished eighth ahead Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen wrapped up the final point of the day but teammate Jenson Button lost sixth position after being forced into retirement with a suspected electronic issue.

A slender, but perhaps decisive, three points is Lewis Hamilton’s world championship lead over teammate Nico Rosberg. With five races remaining, and double points on offer in Abu Dhabi, this exceptional battle is, thankfully, far from over.

September 22, 2014
Hamilton pips Rosberg to pole during Singapore GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton pipped Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg to pole position during an insanely cool conclusion to today’s qualifying session ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Hamilton locked up into the first corner on his final flying lap during Q3 but was able to recover well enough to beat Rosberg by what Rosberg has rued as a “nothing gap” of only 0.007secs.

Their first runs in Q3 saw the duo only banking 6th and 7th place on the grid but in the closing run of the session it was Rosberg who stole top spot, only to have Hamilton snatch it away from him.

Those final few minutes of Q3 were exactly what Formula One is all about! As the flag dropped, we watched Daniel Ricciardo crossing the line to take the provisional pole position – to the ecstacy of the Singapore crowd who went absolutely crazy for him as he crossed the line.

But moments later, it was Nico Rosberg who had the crowd on their feet as he snatched the pole away, before Hamilton came storming across the line to take that all important pole position.

Rosberg was really frustrated about missing out. When told that Hamilton had beaten him to pole by 0.007s, Rosberg shouted “Damn it!” on the radio.

After qualifying, Rosberg said, “Seven thousandths [of a second], when I think back to the lap, it’s nothing. It’s just a little bit here or there that could have done it, but that’s the way it is. Lewis did a good job to get pole, so fair play and second place is okay. It’s a long race ahead and it’s fine.”

Rosberg did point out that a change in brake specification before qualifying put him off his game a tad, though he says it started to come together in time for his final run.

“We changed brakes ahead of qualifying and I’d got into rhythm with the other brakes so that was a challenge and we expected it to be. The balance also wasn’t very good because the track had cooled down, so relative to the session before qualifying when it was hotter, there was a lot more understeer and the rear has a lot more grip. I had to completely adapt the settings to get it through qualifying, but in the end I was able to push flat out and put in a good lap time.”

The two Red Bull drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, have locked out the second row of the grid.

Sebastian Vettel apologised to his team immediately after the qualifying session, saying that he really thought he had more time in him and that he could have done better. Christian Horner replied saying, “Don’t worry Sebby. It’ll come.”

But, reflecting on the session, “I’m not happy with that final lap, I was pushing a bit too hard and didn’t get it all together,” he explained after qualifying. But the German feels that they could have had a shot at getting the pole today and said, “I think pole position could have been in our grasp today.”

“We’ll hope to have a good race tomorrow, with good pit-stops and a good strategy and we’ll see what we can do from there,” he added. “It’s a long race, so we’ll see how the tyres work and what we can do.”

For a short while, it seemed as though Ferrari might be able to get in on some front row action but Q3 saw Fernando Alonso only managing 5th place, while a software problem saw Kimi Raikkonen forced to stop his run before being able to put in a final lap and only managed to finish seventh on the grid.

Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry apologised to Raikkonen for the issue after the qualifying session.

“We are sorry that he had a software problem on his final Q3 run, because he could definitely have got a better result,” he said.

But Raikkonen said that the issue had not overshadowed the breakthrough that he and the team made.

“We’ve been struggling with the car a bit all weekend, but we kept changing it and we changed it for qualifying, which was good,” he said.

“It was one of the few times that we have changed it to something really good that I wanted. Unfortunately we had a problem, but there was a lot of potential today and it was nice to have a good feeling with the car.”

Raikkkonen also felt that there was more potential to be reached before hitting the software glitch that brought his session to an end.

“I know I kept messing up the middle sector all the time and there was a lot of potential on the other sectors,” said the Finn. “There was a good feeling with the car and I could put it where I wanted. It was feeling easier to drive, so it’s a shame what happened today, but that’s our sport. Sometimes you hope it would happen during a different weekend when you’re having difficult times.”

The initial Q3 runs saw Felipe Massa having a taste at the provisional pole position after the first round of runs, but he slipped down to 6th with the second runs. Williams team mate Valtteri Bottas placed his car in 8th place.

The top 10 was rounded out by Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat.

Jenson Button will be very disappointed after being the biggest casualty of Q2. The Brit locked up at the hairpin and just missed out, finishing 11th. Jean-Eric Vergne, who was very impressive during the practice sessions, brought his car home in 12th place.

Nico Hulkenberg was 13th fastest, while Esteban Gutiérrez did well to split the Force India drivers and beat compatriot Esteban Gutiérrez.

Romain Grosjean complained of brake issues in the first knockout session but progressed, although he was the slowest runner in Q2 and will line up in 16th position. He was most unimpressed at the end of the session, bellowing over the team radio, “I don’t believe it! Bloody engine! Bloody engine! We bust our balls for this?!” An apology from his engineer explaining that it was the same issue they had in Q3 was not enough for him, “I don’t care! I don’t care! It’s too much!”

Adrian Sutil was unable to make it out of Q1 and informed his Sauber team that he was struggling for power, while Pastor Maldonado managed only 18th in the Lotus.

Both Jules Bianchi and Kamui Kobayashi were quicker than their respective team mates, with Max Chilton a second behind Bianchi and Ericsson rounding out the field, 1.9s down on Kobayashi, although he missed his first run due to electrical issues.

Your final provisional grid with lap times are below. Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness tomorrow for what we hope will be a cracking Singapore Grand Prix. There’ll be live commentary before, during, and after the race, as well as some chat and interaction with like-minded F1 crazy fans! Join us!

September 20, 2014
F1 2014: Italian GP Review- Hamilton Rises To The Challenge

After all is said and done it is still on track where the real talking is done. Two weeks on from enormous disappointment Lewis Hamilton turned up in Italy ready to do the talking. A comfortable pole position started the ball rolling.

It wasn’t all picture perfect though as a poor start dropped Hamilton down to fourth at the start of the race. But there wasn’t very much that was going to douse the fiery determination of the Brit. He fought back first with an overtake on Kevin Magnussen and later a fearless move around the outside of Felipe Massa into the first chicane. Rosberg tried to maintain the four second gap he’d built up but a mistake caused him to straight-line the first chicane which halved the gap over Hamilton.

In the first laps after the one round of pit stops Hamilton unleashed his superior pace and reduced the gap to Rosberg to 1.2 seconds. A bit of pressure to the mix and Rosberg soon out-braked himself and missed the first chicane. This mistake was enough to hand Hamilton the lead of the race who went on to win his sixth race of the season.

The storm of controversy wouldn’t be nearly as juicy if someone wasn’t there continually stirring the pot. Some suggest that Rosberg’s mistake at turn one was actually not a mishap at all. The conspiracy theorists reckon that Rosberg was serving his punishment from the goings on at Spa. Since sanity does tend to dominate our consciousness for most of the day this theory is easily dismissed as utter rubbish. Ask yourself how weak a driver, a person for that matter, Rosberg would have to be to agree to something so blatantly spineless.

Elsewhere, newly re-signed Williams driver Felipe Massa recorded his first podium for the British team ahead of his recovering teammate Valtteri Bottas. The Finn had to fight his way back from tenth after a dreadful start to the race. He was able overtake several drivers, via slipstreaming, with the help of his super-slippery-in-a-straight-line Williams. Daniel Ricciardo yet again put on display his staggering race craft with several extravagant overtakes which ultimately netted him a fifth place finish ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.

McLaren carried over their improved pace from Belgium to Italy which enabled Kevin Magnussen to finish seventh on the road. However, the rookie was demoted to tenth after he’d been given a five second penalty for forcing Bottas off the track earlier in the race. Force India’s Sergio Perez inherited seventh as he held off former teammate Jenson Button in a tantalizing wheel-to-wheel battle.

Ferrari fans turned up in droves to cheer on their beloved team but the two prancing horses could never muster much more than a simple trot across the line. To add insult to a serious lack of pace Fernando Alonso suffered an ERS (Energy Recovery System) failure on his car. The Spaniard succumbed to his first mechanical retirement since 2009. Elsewhere, Kimi Raikkonen dragged the lacklustre Ferrari around the Monza circuit and eventually finished ninth overall.

The short cool down before the podium was rather telling of the relationship between the Merc drivers. There was no congratulatory handshake and in fact for most of the time Lewis Hamilton had his back to his teammate chatting away to Felipe Massa. The podium interview, conducted by Jean Alesi, was as awkward. The former Ferrari driver wanted to know if Hamilton and Rosberg were still friends to which the Brit reflexively answered: “yes, we’re teammates.” So that’s a no then.

Lewis Hamilton may only have pulled back seven points on the championship lead but the psychological victory was far greater. For one, Hamilton will be delighted with the knowledge that he could pressure Rosberg into a mistake. What’s more, Hamilton will savour the realization that he has exposed some cracks in the Rosberg armour.

September 8, 2014
Hamilton takes comfortable pole for Italian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton comfortably secured pole position for the Italian Grand Prix during qualifying on Saturday at Monza.

Hamilton took the pole grid spot by two tenths of a second over warring Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg. Rosberg went into qualifying without being able to take part in the full final practice session – completing only three laps in FP3 due to a gearbox issue. However, the Mercedes team were able to sort out the problem without having to break any of the FIA seals on the gearbox and as such will not receive a grid penalty for Sunday’s race at Monza.

The Williams duo of Valterri Bottas and Felipe Massa will lock out the second row of the grid.McLaren suprised everyone with Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button lining up fifth and sixth, while Fernando Alonso could only manage seventh for Ferrari’s home Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel finished in eighth place ahead of his Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo and Force India’s Sergio Perez to round out the top 10.

Daniil Kvyat only just missed out on making it through to Q3 but will drop to 21^st on the grid due to a 10 place grid penalty for using a sixth engine this season.

Kimi Raikkonen was the biggest casualty during qualifying, managing only 12th after a pretty scruffy lap.

Your full timesheets and results are below. Please join us tomorrow for live commentary and chat on @F1_Madness on Twitter as we bring you blow-by-blow action of the Italian Grand Prix.

September 6, 2014
Bottas fastest in damp final practice

Williams driver, Valterri Bottas, topped the timesheets after the third and final practice session at Spa Francorchamps, ahead of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. Bottas set a time of 1:49.465 to finish the session 0.268s clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Drivers were greeted by damp conditions today with overnight rain, and rain expected for qualifying later this afternoon. Most drivers used intermediate tyres for their installation laps with some opting for full wets.

Andre Lotterer was the first driver to set a time before sliding wide at La Source. Jules Bianchi soon beat his time and remained fastest for the first half of the session as most drivers chose to stay in their garages.

The track dried considerably halfway through and the track was once again abuzz with action. Esteban Gutierrez broke the silence and ventured out Primes, lowering Bianchi’s benchmark by a second.

Inevtiably, the Mercedes drivers made their way to the top of the timesheets with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg switching at the top for a short while. At one stage, Hamilton snatched the fastest time off his team mate by a crazy one thousandth of a second! It is times like these that really make Formula One.

After switching to soft tyres for qualifying simulations, the Mercedes drivers found themselves getting knocked off the top spots.

It was Bottas who finished in front, with Ricciardo second and Nico Rosberg third, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, who set identical lap times during a frantic end to the session.

Alonso finished in sixth, with Daniil Kvyat, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa and Jean-Eric Vergne rounding out the top 10. Full timesheet for the session below.

We’ll be back for qualifying shortly! Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live tweets and chat throughout. Rain is expected so we’re expecting a cracker of a session.

Photo Credits: Williams and Mclaren F1 teams

FP3 Timesheet

August 23, 2014
F1 2014: Hungarian GP Review – Real-deal Ricciardo Shines In Hungary

In spite of what the circumstances may be, how improbable it seems or how much the odds are stacked against you there is something to be said for never giving up. Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s performance in the Hungarian GP were phenomenal examples of such resolve.

Lewis Hamilton needed to dig deep as his miserable qualifying run continued. A suspected fuel leak brought a fiery end to his qualifying aspirations. A complete rebuild of the car relegated him to a pitlane start and a seemingly uphill battle.

In contrast, Nico Rosberg reeled off another dominant pole position but Red Bull’s long run pace suggested that Sunday’s race could be closer than Mercedes would be comfortable with. A short rain shower before the start of the race demanded a start of the intermediate tyre but it was still poleman Rosberg who dominated the early stages of the race.

The slippery conditions nearly caught Hamilton out as he survived a brush with the barrier after spinning off a turn 2. Up and down the pitlane the team strategists were made to work hard as questionable weather conditions and safety cars called for rapid decision making.

The first safety car was deployed to recover the wrecked Caterham of Marcus Ericsson.

However, it was too late for Rosberg, Bottas, Vettel and Alonso to dive into the pitlane for slick tyres. A lap later, Daniel Ricciardo emerged in the lead of the race.

Jenson Button, hoping for a timely rain shower, elected to remain on the intermediate tyres. However, as the track surface continued to dry so the chances of the McLaren driver dissipated.

A second stint was required behind the safety car when Force India’s Sergio Perez crashed heavily into the concrete barrier on the start/finish straight. Ricciardo and the two Williams drivers took to the pitlane.

The reshuffle left Fernando Alonso in the lead of the race on a two-stop strategy. It nearly resulted in a spectacular victory for the Spaniard. Alas, it was a task slightly too big for the Ferrari driver to accomplish.

Nevertheless, in what has been a trying year for the Scuderia Alonso’s relentless spirit earned him a stellar second place.

Lewis Hamilton put his misfortune aside to complete a sensational run from the pitlane to the final step of the podium. Third place is not what the Brit aims for but it is a result that will do the psychology of his title bid a world of good.

On a more contentious note Hamilton was asked by his team to let his three-stopping teammate through. For his part it didn’t seem like Hamilton was wholly against the instruction but informed the team that Rosberg would have to get closer if it was going to happen. It makes perfect sense that Hamilton should not lose time to the car ahead in order to let his teammate through.

Despite the differing strategies Hamilton was very much in the same race as his teammate and more importantly in an ever-tightening battle for the world championship.

“I was very, very shocked that the team would ask me to do that [move aside],” Hamilton said after the race. “I’m racing for myself. Not for anyone else.” It was a preposterous request by the Mercedes team that has no place in the sport and, with any luck, will never be uttered over a team radio again.

Nico Rosberg, home in fourth, was fairly unhappy about the incident after the race. The German has been performing at the highest level in 2014 but as the second half of the season approaches he will realize that it is going to require for him to dig deeper than he thought possible.

Felipe Massa brought his Williams home in fifth position ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in sixth. The Finn staged an outstanding comeback after a strategy error left him 16^th on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel survived a spin on the main straight to finish seventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas in eighth.

Jean-Eric Vergne ran as high as second-place in the race but was relegated to ninth to lead home McLaren’s Jenson Button in tenth.

The utter determination of Alonso and Hamilton was a joy to behold but Daniel Ricciardo’s breathtaking race was every Formula 1 fan’s dream.

Late in the race the Red Bull driver pulled off two tremendous overtaking moves on Hamilton and Alonso on course to his second grand prix victory.

The ease and class with which Ricciardo has taken to racing amongst the very best in F1 is indicative of a driver with a serious amount of talent. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that the Aussie is a star of the future; because Daniel Ricciardo is, unquestionably, already a star.

August 3, 2014
Rosberg secures Hungarian GP pole as Hamilton’s hopes go up in flames

Nico Rosberg and Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton will start from opposite ends of the Hungarian GP grid after Rosberg enjoyed a clear run to pole and Hamilton’s car caught fire early on during the qualifying session.

Hamilton, who was the clear favourite for pole after finishing all three practice sessions on top, failed to set a time due to a fire on his car just five minutes into Q1.

A fuel leak saw his Mercedes set alight and he attempted to return to the pits but he was forced to stop at the pit lane entry before flames fully engulfed the rear of his car.

“I am absolutely gutted that we have let Lewis down again and given him such a tough job on another Sunday afternoon – so soon after his fantastic drive in Germany,” said Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe.

“We are still stripping the car to understand the cause of the fuel leak but the symptom was a loss of high pressure fuel to the direct injection system of the internal combustion engine. This fuel leak then caused a major conflagration which is likely to have written off most of the car.”

Hungarian GP Q1 not only delivered the shock of Hamilton’s early exit, but also saw Kimi Raikkonen being eliminated. Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado had joined Hamilton on the sidelines when his car stuttered to a halt before the final corner. The four remaining grid slots looked set for the Marussia and Caterham drivers but Jules Bianchi headed out on the option tyres and dumped Raikkonen out after he remained on primes and failed to set a quick enough time.

Raikkonen had been showing renewed pace during the practice sessions ahead of the Hungarian GP, where he has six podiums and a race win to his name, but he’ll be starting from 17th place on a track known for limited overtaking opportunities. Raikkonen has said that he did not agree with Ferrari’s decision to keep him in the garage and save a set of softs, a gamble which backfired in a colossal fashion.

Raikkonen said that he could have over-ruled the team, “but I trust in the team, believe in the people. The plan was to go out, but the team said ‘no, you are fine, you do not need to go out’. I questioned it a few times, but they said no need and we can see the end result.

“I cannot always go against advice. We are here as a team, we make decision as a team, and today the outcome was this. As a team in Formula One, as Ferrari, we should not be doing these kind of things. None of us are in our first year. It’s not good for me or the team.”

Raikkonen added that he won’t be fretting over the judgement error for too long. “A mistake has been made. It’s already been a difficult year, so I don’t see the point to shout. The mistake is done. I’ve made mistakes in the past, I will make them in the future. People make mistakes, but there are things we have to change to improve. These are not easy times.”

Compared to Q1, Q2 was a pretty tame session. Daniil Kvyat seemed set to make it through to Q3 but spun at turn 12 on his final hot lap and dropped to 11th. The Russian was unable to recover and climbed out of his Toro Rosso.

Adrian Sutil made it up to 12th in his Sauber, while Sergio Perez finished 13th after he only only managed one run due to a hydraulics problem. Esteban Gutiérrez, Romain Grosjean and Bianchi completed the Q2 eliminations.

Although Rosberg’s main rival was no longer in contention, rain during Q3 made the task a little more challenging and set the scene for a thrilling battle with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

Rain arrived just as Q3 began and all of the frontrunners started on Option tyres as Rosberg led them out onto the track. He locked up into the first corner and ran straight on as the rain intensified. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, who was behind Rosberg on the road, made a similar mistake but was unable to avoid a pretty heavy impact with the tyre wall. Team mate Jenson Button also ran wide and the session was red flagged, before anyone had set a time, to recover Magnussen’s McLaren.

When the Hungarian GP qualifying resumed after an 8 minute delay, the rain had eased up a little and with the track drying, everyone headed out on slick options. Rosberg posted the first time but his lap was soon beaten by Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas.

Vettel then stormed his way to the front of the Hungarian GP grid, with a 1:23.415 – eight tenths faster than Bottas. But Rosberg reclaimed the top spot with a 1:23.236. Bottas improved to go second, but remained narrowly behind Rosberg.

On the final lap, Vettel inched his way ahead of Rosberg but Nico responded with a time that was 0.486s quicker and claimed his sixth pole position of the season. Bottas will start the Hungarian GP from third place on the grid, ahead of Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Felipe Massa qualified sixth for Williams, ahead of Jenson Button and Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne. Nico Hulkenberg finished the session in ninth, while Magnussen rounded out the top 10 after his accident.

The Hungarian GP gets underway tomorrow afternoon at 2pm GMT+2. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live commentary and chat before, during and after the race.

Your full timing screen for the Hungarian GP qualifying, is below.

July 26, 2014
Hamilton stays on top in second practice at the Hungaroring

Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off in FP1 by finishing fastest again at the second practice session around the Hungaroring this afternoon. Hamilton posted a time of 1:24.482 finishing two-tenths of a second clear of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg as the Mercedes duo continued to dominate the rest of the field at the Hungaroring.

Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who complained of a lack of power on the straights, was third quickest for Red Bull, 0.629s down on Hamilton’s time. Fernando Alonso set the fourth fastest time, ahead of McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen and Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Daniel Ricciardo powered his RB10 around the Hungaroring to set the seventh fastest time and Williams improved on their poor FP1 result, getting both cars inside the top ten. Valtteri Bottas finished eighth followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button and team mate Felipe Massa.

Mercedes remains the team to beat and although both Hamilton and Rosberg were reporting problems towards the end of the session, they are looking dominant around the Hungaroring.

The third practice session takes place tomorrow morning at 11am GMT +2.

Your full timesheet for FP2 at the Hungaroring, is below.

July 25, 2014
Hamilton sets the pace in first practice

Lewis Hamilton topped the first practice session ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, one tenth quicker than team mate Nico Rosberg and eight tenths faster than Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton, a four time winner in Budapest, exchanged places at the top of the time sheets with Rosberg but set the fastest time at the end of the session with a 1:25.814.

The Ferraris once again came closest to the Mercedes duo continuing their run of being the best of the rest in the first practice session of a grand prix weekend. Raikkonen took the third spot and Fernando Alonso finished his practice session a further four tenths back in fourth.

Sebastian Vettel was fifth quickest for Red Bull after struggling initially with the telemetry on his RB10. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen ended the session in sixth, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo.

Jenson Button and Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10.

Several drivers struggled with low grip across the session. The Hungaroring is nutoriously green on a Friday. Only Adrian Sutil and Marcus Ericsson suffered spins though.

Max Chilton could only manage five laps for the session after oil leaking onto the exhaust of his Marussia caused a fire which saw him sitting in the pit garage for most of his practice session.

Hamilton will no doubt be hoping to add another win at the Hungaroring to his championship bid. The second practice session commences at 14:00 pm (GMT +2).

Full timesheet for the session is below.

July 25, 2014
Rosberg leads the pack in final practice

Nico Rosberg topped the time sheets during the final practice ahead of qualifying for the German Grand Prix with a time of 1:17.779.

Rosberg’s time is a surprising 0.601 clear of his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.

Despite a spin in at turn eight halfway through the session, Fernando Alonso recovered to set the third quickest time of the practice session, a mere 0.004 down on Hamilton.

The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas led much of the practice session on prime tyres, but ended up fourth and fifth respectively after the supersoft runs.

Kevin Magnussen finished sixth after setting the pace during the opening stages of final practice, with Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen behind him.

Raikkonen switched to options very early on, but was unable to continue in the final stages of practice due to a problem with his fuel pump. The Ferrari team are working ferverishly to change the fuel pump before qualifying gets underway.

Red Bull’s performance was either lacklustre, or one big sandbag as reigning world champ Sebastian Vettel parked his car in ninth place.

Nico Hulkenberg took the last spot in the top ten for Force India.

Jenson Button had much complaining about understeer and problems with his braking during practice, most likely a result of no longer having FRIC suspension. None of the teams will be running FRIC this weekend after it was deemed illegal by the FIA earlier this week.

Full timesheet for the session is below. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for qualifying later this afternoon at 14h00 GMT +2.

Photo credit: Mercedes

July 19, 2014