Sergio Perez was unhurt after a rolling his Force India during the first practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Force India driver spun at the exit of turn 11 when a right-rear suspension component appeared to fail on his car. The VJM08 hit the barrier on the inside of the track nose-first, then flipped onto its roll-hoop after it rebounded. Perez quickly told his team he was OK before climbing out of the car.
The crash occurred almost one hour into the session and the red flags were out for over quarter of an hour while the car was recovered. Practice eventually resumed with 26 minutes remaining.
At that point Lewis Hamilton was still leading the times with the 1’25.291, but soon after returning to the track he took over a tenth of his best time. Nico Rosberg also improved, ending up little more than a tenth of a second off his team mate.
However a further red flag caused another interruption. Kimi Raikkonen’s front wing failed at the exit of turn 12, showering the track with debris.
The incident left Raikkonen and the team puzzled at first. “I have a flat front-left,” he radioed in, “I don’t know what happened I lost a piece of front wing…” Race engineer David Greenwood informed him he’d experienced a “very sudden puncture – it was almost instant Kimi, sorry, we didn’t see that”. While his car returned to the pits minus its front wing the marshals began another clean-up operation.
This was completed with little more than half a minute remaining, allowing some drivers to head out for a quick extra couple of laps and a practice start or, in Pastor Maldonado’s case, an aerodynamic cruise test. Lotus were playing catch-up having done little running in the opening minutes of the session, and Jolyon Palmer failed to set a time before.
His fellow GP2 champion Fabio Leimer had his first run in an official F1 session, ending up 19th for Manor.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’25.141 | 18 | |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’25.250 | 0.109 | 22 |
| 3 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’25.812 | 0.671 | 23 |
| 4 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’26.053 | 0.912 | 20 |
| 5 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 1’26.070 | 0.929 | 17 |
| 6 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’26.395 | 1.254 | 14 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’26.727 | 1.586 | 25 |
| 8 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’26.776 | 1.635 | 14 |
| 9 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’26.825 | 1.684 | 19 |
| 10 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’26.934 | 1.793 | 27 |
| 11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’27.272 | 2.131 | 16 |
| 12 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’27.308 | 2.167 | 17 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’27.317 | 2.176 | 11 |
| 14 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’27.381 | 2.240 | 19 |
| 15 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’27.409 | 2.268 | 24 |
| 16 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’27.732 | 2.591 | 23 |
| 17 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’28.568 | 3.427 | 9 |
| 18 | 28 | Will Stevens | Manor-Ferrari | 1’29.693 | 4.552 | 17 |
| 19 | 42 | Fabio Leimer | Manor-Ferrari | 1’30.631 | 5.490 | 18 |
| 20 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus-Mercedes | 4 |
First practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’25.141
+0.109 Nico Rosberg – 1’25.250
+0.671 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’25.812
+0.912 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’26.053
+0.929 Daniil Kvyat – 1’26.070
+1.254 Sebastian Vettel – 1’26.395
+1.586 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’26.727
+1.635 Sergio Perez – 1’26.776
+1.684 Valtteri Bottas – 1’26.825
+1.793 Max Verstappen – 1’26.934
+2.131 Fernando Alonso – 1’27.272
+2.176 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’27.317
+2.240 Felipe Massa – 1’27.381
+2.268 Felipe Nasr – 1’27.409
+2.591 Marcus Ericsson – 1’27.732
+3.427 Pastor Maldonado – 1’28.568
+4.552 Will Stevens – 1’29.693
+5.490 Fabio Leimer – 1’30.631
2015 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Vettel wins Driver of the Weekend for third time
- Hungary rated fifth-best race since 2008
- 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Vote for your Hungarian GP Driver of the Weekend
2015 F1 practice sessions
- Errors leave Hamilton behind Rosberg in final practice
- Rosberg edges Hamilton in second practice
- Mercedes comfortably ahead in first practice
- Two stoppages can’t keep Hamilton from top spot
- Mercedes wrap up Friday practice with almost a second in hand
pal
24th July 2015, 10:52
Bits and pieces are falling off the cars…
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
24th July 2015, 11:57
The way Kimi’s wing got disintegrated was rather interesting to observe. The upside is that the marshals got enough pieces to pocket as souvenirs, I hope. Can’t imagine Ferrari requesting every bit of that explosion to be returned.
Chad (@chaddy)
25th July 2015, 2:30
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-JN983_072415_J_20150724140727.jpg
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
24th July 2015, 11:58
Lotus miss 30 minutes FP1 because Pirelli refuse to supply tyres.
They reached agreement about 50 minutes before the start of this session!
lockup (@)
24th July 2015, 12:21
Then they had to be heated, was the delay apparently @ruliemaulana
Can’t imagine how desperate things must be at Lotus.
Solo (@solo)
5th August 2015, 15:24
Damn! They really are in a mess if they even had trouble getting tyres.
PhilEReid (@philereid)
24th July 2015, 12:16
Should this be 16 minutes?
A couple of strange failures this session with car parts failing. I’m glad the Perez incident wasn’t any worse than what it was.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
24th July 2015, 12:27
Does anyone know if Williams used the new front wing? If so, on which car? (There was a bit of a gap between Massa and Bottas)
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
24th July 2015, 12:43
@juan-fanger Apparently whoever is ahead in the championship (Bottas) gets first go with just one part available, which is then reversed for the second time that happens (Massa) and so on.