Hamilton confident after leading Friday practice

2012 Hungarian Grand Prix Friday practice analysis

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Lewis Hamilton led both practice sessions on Friday and also managed one of the longest stints in preparation for the race.

Afterwards a confident Hamilton said: “I’m on it. I’ve been on it all year.

“I feel a lot of support from the fans, here and everywhere, and I think things are looking pretty good this weekend. I’ll be focusing on maximising every lap and every opportunity I get out there.”

Here’s a look at the data from the first two practice sessions.

Longest stint comparison – first practice

Hamilton did a string of 12 timed laps on the medium tyre during the first practice session. The tyres appeared to start to lose performance on his last few laps.

The rain in the second session meant that, for the third race weekend in a row, drivers were unable to do long runs to compare both compounds of tyre – in this case, the medium and soft. Pirelli say the latter is worth around eight tenths of a second per lap here.

This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2012drivercolours.csv

123456789101112
Sebastian Vettel90.32586.83185.59488.7785.48185.01
Mark Webber84.60584.64485.68185.021
Jenson Button86.584.13791.63883.75392.24483.199
Lewis Hamilton88.2387.2187.01494.50587.05287.49289.42886.42586.37990.90786.69687.17
Fernando Alonso88.40384.20594.28184.055
Felipe Massa89.41387.21383.904
Michael Schumacher88.1984.11784.39587.02589.58887.01184.947
Nico Rosberg86.82288.49291.994100.35586.39599.32286.85185.99485.243
Kimi Raikkonen88.21884.65888.81584.10989.2485.72983.983
Romain Grosjean86.73185.29788.01684.30484.596
Paul di Resta90.55185.27184.74290.58688.81484.559
Jules Bianchi88.30486.75493.1885.98599.149
Kamui Kobayashi90.12884.6788.489
Sergio Perez89.11287.61686.61586.18394.47584.31687.284
Daniel Ricciardo86.27585.49485.85885.48286.21486.869
Jean-Eric Vergne87.05186.51586.74285.93890.71587.86186.822
Pastor Maldonado90.19585.80996.47484.44993.96284.3
Valtteri Bottas87.64484.93992.36984.15289.81884.214
Heikki Kovalainen90.57389.1297.25188.43594.636104.29987.66
Vitaly Petrov91.21188.05186.71389.67692.84186.765
Pedro de la Rosa89.69888.04887.61287.71287.48787.514
Dani Clos91.78788.90388.86689.16888.58188.319
Timo Glock90.50289.60688.587.01587.59798.02293.17988.061
Charles Pic92.07487.86593.45487.33594.64390.44386.86191.68586.705

Sector times and ultimate lap times – second practice

Bruno Senna was third quickest overall and had the second fastest time based on combined fastest sectors. It indicates Williams have a strong car here and suggests Senna may be able to use its capabilities more fully than he has previously.

“There is good potential in the car though which makes me happy ahead of qualifying tomorrow,” he said.

CarDriverCarSector 1Sector 2Sector 3Ultimate lapGapDeficit to best
14Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes29.104 (1)29.680 (2)23.211 (4)1’21.9950.000
219Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault29.304 (4)29.680 (2)23.158 (2)1’22.1420.1470.111
39Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault29.301 (2)29.831 (5)23.048 (1)1’22.1800.1850.000
45Fernando AlonsoFerrari29.303 (3)29.731 (4)23.360 (8)1’22.3940.3990.188
56Felipe MassaFerrari29.381 (6)29.667 (1)23.369 (9)1’22.4170.4220.000
63Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes29.351 (5)30.085 (11)23.222 (5)1’22.6580.6630.089
71Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault29.439 (7)29.991 (7)23.245 (6)1’22.6750.6800.149
811Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes29.449 (8)30.186 (12)23.159 (3)1’22.7940.7990.000
910Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault29.652 (12)29.853 (6)23.377 (11)1’22.8820.8870.040
107Michael SchumacherMercedes29.461 (9)30.070 (10)23.369 (9)1’22.9000.9050.260
118Nico RosbergMercedes29.592 (11)30.233 (13)23.339 (7)1’23.1641.1690.000
1218Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault29.734 (14)30.045 (9)23.558 (13)1’23.3371.3420.000
1312Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes29.513 (10)30.294 (14)23.617 (16)1’23.4241.4290.289
1414Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari29.941 (17)30.006 (8)23.647 (17)1’23.5941.5990.247
152Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault29.655 (13)30.609 (18)23.436 (12)1’23.7001.7050.114
1616Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari29.956 (18)30.570 (17)23.595 (15)1’24.1212.1260.224
1717Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari30.059 (20)30.556 (16)23.577 (14)1’24.1922.1970.136
1815Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari29.964 (19)30.540 (15)23.916 (19)1’24.4202.4250.203
1921Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault29.790 (15)31.106 (19)23.927 (20)1’24.8232.8280.000
2020Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault29.875 (16)31.484 (20)23.861 (18)1’25.2203.2250.000
2122Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth30.712 (21)31.914 (23)24.231 (21)1’26.8574.8620.249
2224Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth30.883 (23)31.633 (21)24.386 (23)1’26.9024.9070.202
2325Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth30.937 (24)31.777 (22)24.353 (22)1’27.0675.0720.118
2423Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth30.882 (22)32.247 (24)24.484 (24)1’27.6135.6180.209

Complete practice times

Kimi Raikkonen is increasingly happy with the balance of his Lotus E20, particularly with the progress made in the last few races.

But all is not well on the other side of the Lotus garage where Romain Grosjean appears to be grappling with a continuation of the problems he had in Germany.

“The car didn’t feel quite as I like it, similar to how it felt in Hockenheim, which made things a bit tricky,” said Grosjean. “I made a mistake running wide on the exit of turn seven in the second session which meant I touched the wall, so a big apology to the guys for that.”

Meanwhile Timo Glock is happier with the feel of his Marussia: “With all the changes made since Hockenheim, my car seems more ‘back to normal’, I would say. There’s still some work to do on the set-up and to make the car a little quicker, but I was quite happy at the end of the morning.”

PosDriverCarFP1FP2Total laps
1Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’22.8211’21.99550
2Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’23.9831’22.18044
3Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1’22.25334
4Felipe MassaFerrari1’23.9041’22.41754
5Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’23.3971’22.58246
6Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’22.9221’22.74741
7Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’24.5591’22.79445
8Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’24.6081’22.82443
9Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’23.6331’22.92236
10Michael SchumacherMercedes1’23.8451’23.16045
11Nico RosbergMercedes1’23.6281’23.16458
12Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’24.3001’23.33749
13Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’23.71326
14Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’24.5461’23.81441
15Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’24.3941’23.84147
16Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’24.15224
17Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’24.2681’24.62350
18Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.5591’24.32852
19Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.3541’24.34553
20Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1’26.4401’24.82357
21Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1’26.7551’25.22058
22Jules BianchiForce India-Mercedes1’25.71526
23Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1’26.7051’27.18547
24Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1’27.0151’27.10452
25Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth1’27.1011’27.10640
26Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’27.82220
27Dani ClosHRT-Cosworth1’28.17624

Speed trap – second practice

Unusually the speed trap has a Red Bull at the top of it – Sebastian Vettel’s. His team mate Mark Webber insisted there had been “no change” in the car’s performance since the FIA outlawed the engine map the team used in the last race.

“We got some running in the wet and the dry, but we’ve got work to do,” he said. “I’m not super happy with that today, but it’s good that it’s only Friday. We seem to be going okay in some places, but losing time in others – so we’ll go through it tonight. I need to work on the balance.”

#DriverCarEngineMax speed (kph)Gap
11Sebastian VettelRed BullRenault304.6
221Vitaly PetrovCaterhamRenault3031.6
312Nico HulkenbergForce IndiaMercedes302.22.4
44Lewis HamiltonMcLarenMercedes301.43.2
520Heikki KovalainenCaterhamRenault300.24.4
611Paul di RestaForce IndiaMercedes299.74.9
78Nico RosbergMercedesMercedes298.75.9
83Jenson ButtonMcLarenMercedes298.56.1
99Kimi RaikkonenLotusRenault297.96.7
107Michael SchumacherMercedesMercedes297.67
1119Bruno SennaWilliamsRenault297.47.2
1215Sergio PerezSauberFerrari297.17.5
136Felipe MassaFerrariFerrari296.48.2
1417Jean-Eric VergneToro RossoFerrari296.28.4
152Mark WebberRed BullRenault295.49.2
165Fernando AlonsoFerrariFerrari295.29.4
1718Pastor MaldonadoWilliamsRenault294.89.8
1810Romain GrosjeanLotusRenault294.510.1
1914Kamui KobayashiSauberFerrari293.211.4
2016Daniel RicciardoToro RossoFerrari29311.6
2123Narain KarthikeyanHRTCosworth291.213.4
2222Pedro de la RosaHRTCosworth287.617
2325Charles PicMarussiaCosworth286.917.7
2424Timo GlockMarussiaCosworth286.817.8

2012 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “Hamilton confident after leading Friday practice”

  1. Does anyone know what are the changes made to the first corner?

    1. @valentino There’s no detail of any changes to turn one on the information issued by the FIA – it just mentions the resurfacing around the final turn.

      1. Sorry, I thought I heard they made the main straight longer and made modifications to the first corner to make overtakes easier.

        1. @valentino They did, but it was back in 2003!

          Changing tracks: Hungaroring

  2. Hope Senna finally manages to really outshine his team mate all the weekend. I don’t like how Williams only give Senna’s car to Bottas at every friday practice, it should be balanced between all 3 drivers. It really penalizes Senna, and surely that shows during the Grand Prix.

    1. @fer-no65
      I seem to recall something about the PDVSA contract williams have saying that they must have a Venezuelan driver in all sessions where possible. Could be wrong though. To be fair to Senna he did know the deal when he signed the contract.

      1. @skett well, that’s unfair too.

    2. He needs a good race for the sake of his F1 career. As a fan, I hope he manages it- China was a long time ago.

  3. Sunny and hot tomorrow (in Budapest, anyway). And maybe no rain until the evening on Sunday. I’m expecting a McLaren lock-out on Saturday. On Sunday, I figure Hamilton or Button to win, but look out for RAI. The Lotus is looking quicker and quicker all the time. As ususal little to say about RBR. They may be smarting for the loss of their quasi-TC, but they often look slowish on Friday but then rise up in Q3.

  4. Around 9/10ths slower than last years P2 time. I guess we didn’t see full potential because of the rain in the last half, but it goes to show how valuable the EBD were.

  5. Martin Brundle was saying before P1 that there is a rule which states that if you lay down rubber on the pit lane, you have to go out on the track. I have no clue what he was talking about, can anyone please clarify?

    1. It refers to drivers who spin up their wheels on their pit box. Drivers do this to give them a little more grip when leaving the pit lane, just to give them an extra .1 or .2 of a second advantage if at all possible. Once they have done so, they have to go out on to the track, supposedly. However, I’m sure teams wheel the car back into the garage after some, unless this is after the session has ended.

  6. sid_prasher (@)
    27th July 2012, 20:36

    Going by how close the cars have generally been this year, McLarens are looking very very fast!

  7. Not surprising to see a Red Bull top the speed table when the engine is finally producing the torque that its revs say it should be!!

    1. who's better who's best
      27th July 2012, 23:14

      And of course they have shed some drag with the loss of downforce

      How ever they only had that torque map at hockenhiem so I doubt it has anything to do with that

      Perhaps they were running low fuel and are just rubbish around the corners

    2. I’d be very surprised if Red Bull had bended to rules to slow themselves down O.o

      What Red Bull had been trying to do, was increase the downforce at the bottle neck, and reduce the wheel spin of the car as it accelerates. Neither of which would have slowed them down along the straight.

    3. @newdecade I’m reckoning that Vettel perhaps got a tow, considering that Webber is so far down.

    4. The engine maps were helping the driver open the throttle more mid-corner, allowing more air to flow through the exhaust to get more downforce, and also helping not spin up the rears too much, helping tyre wear.

      Neither of these things have anything to do with top end speeds, which are taken at the end of the longest straight. :]

  8. FOM misquote on Webber

    “There’s no change from the engine mapbeping amend.”

    should have been

    “There’s no change from the engine mapping my end.”

    1. The quote in the article is accurate.

  9. @Keithcollantine – Have I already told you how pleasing the color/font combo is on this site’s pages? Well, it sure is!

    I hope it would not be too much to ask if you could possibly incorporate color change in the news/headlines that has already been read once by an user, for that user? I seem to get a little confused on what I’ve read/unread during each visit.

    Thanks in advance!

  10. McLaren certainly seem quick but so do Lotus. The E20 is fast and is probably the most consistent car when it comes to actual speed but they jut can’t use it when it matters, it’s qualifying that let’s them down.

    Strange to see an RB8 on top of the speed trap, and a Caterham. Could the drivers perhaps have benefited from a tow?

Comments are closed.