Nico Rosberg topped the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, but Mercedes will be wary of the Red Bull threat after Max Verstappen almost matched the Mercedes benchmark.
The Red Bull driver was just two thousands of a second slower than Rosberg after final preparations for this afternoon’s qualifying session, while Daniel Ricciardo went quicker than Lewis Hamilton.
In a dry, warm session, there was little in the way of drama or problems that hit many drivers in yesterday’s sessions. Track limits were a considerable issue, however, with Esteban Gutierrez and Lewis Hamilton just two of the drivers who had times deleted for exceeding the exit of turn four.
With the final pre-qualifying runs in the closing minutes and all cars on super-soft tyres, Rosberg lowered the fastest lap of the weekend so far with a 1’20.261, but Max Verstappen stunned many by producing a lap time that was only two thousands of a second off the Mercedes’s benchmark.
Daniel Ricciardo was almost half a second adrift, but produced a quicker time than Lewis Hamilton who was playing catch-up after his second session crash yesterday.
Ferrari were closer too, with Kimi Raikkonen’s time less than a tenth slower than Hamilton’s and Ricciardo’s. McLaren-Honda backed up their promising pace with Fernando Alonso in seventh, but Jenson Button could only manage the 13th-quickest time after complaining of further rear-end instability.
Renault too showed promise heading into qualifying, with Jolyon Palmer in the top ten and Kevin Magnussen in 12th.
The key question is now how much pace the Mercedes duo have left in reserve as the Red Bulls appear to be uncomfortably close around the Hungaroring.
Position | Driver | Team | Lap time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’20.261 |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’20.263 |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’20.726 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’20.769 |
5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’20.859 |
6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’21.185 |
7 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’21.584 |
8 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1’21.649 |
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’21.672 |
10 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’21.935 |
11 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’21.975 |
12 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1’21.989 |
13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’22.009 |
14 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1’22.142 |
15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1’22.284 |
16 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1’22.402 |
17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1’22.427 |
18 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’22.541 |
19 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1’22.816 |
20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’23.219 |
21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1’23.311 |
22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor | 1’23.513 |
2016 Hungarian Grand Prix
- 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Raikkonen’s rise to sixth earns Driver of the Weekend win
- Rosberg ‘surprised Hamilton is suddenly a fan of safety’
- Few excited by Hungarian GP “chess match”
- 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
EC (@dutch-1)
23rd July 2016, 11:35
Are we witnessing a changing of the guards? Verstappen competing for P1 with Rosberg and Hamilton struggling with his car on P4 ?
Neel Jani (@neelv27)
23rd July 2016, 11:46
@dutch-1 Surely an impressive lap from VMax but we don’t know how pace does Merc have in reserve. Just like many, I too hope for a climatic Q3 rather than anti climatic.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
23rd July 2016, 11:45
I really believe Red Bull can be on pole, race win however seems possible but I fear being in front is a requirement to beat the Mercedes cars. Ferrari fast enough to be 5th and 6th, if Alonso manages 7th he’s DOTW.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
23rd July 2016, 11:59
@xtwl You shouldn’t. Mercedes improves drastically from Q1 to Q2. And Verstappen did his FLAP on a 3-lap stint while Rosberg and Hamilton did theirs on 8-lap stints. That could be a 0.04*5=0.2s difference from fuel effect alone.
But at least Mercedes will not entirely sweep the floor with Red Bull that’s a minor positive already.
x303 (@x303)
23rd July 2016, 11:57
McLaren 4th fastest car? C’mon guys, you can do it!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
23rd July 2016, 12:04
You want to believe. As I’ve said the resurfacing of many tracks this season has given McLaren a few chances to work on their strengths, nevertheless they will be as in pretty much every track fighting for a q3 spot and hoping for dnfs on Sunday, it could be Monza the story would be the same with the exception for race pace, in the end their car is just as lacklustre on both sides of the garage.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
23rd July 2016, 11:59
I still think there’s something fishy with Mercedes. You can visually denote that their car hasn’t got the support on high and medium speed corners yet the car looks so light and responsive and quick on the time-sheets, I think Mercedes still has the measure of RB. Ferrari tends to improve on the current spec engines, you quit hearing that cylinder cutting, and you immediately see better traction, that said Ferrari look out of the groove, there’s something amiss with them, they were genuinely good on high speed at Barcelona yet they were nowhere at Silverstone and not that impressive in Hungary either.