Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Hungaroring, 2017

Red Bull lead Ferrari in first practice

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix first practice

Posted on

| Written by

Mercedes had to settle for third-fastest time as practice began for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo got within five-thousandths of a second of the 13-year-old track record at the Hungaroring as he headed the first 90 minutes of running. With track temperatures nudging towards 30C, Ricciardo set a best time of 1’18.486 on the super-soft compounds.

Carlos Sainz Jnr, Toro Rosso, Hungaroring, 2017
Hungarian Grand Prix practice in pictures
That dislodged the previous best time of the session which had been set by Lewis Hamilton. Before the session was over Kimi Raikkonen had also beat the Mercedes driver’s time, ending the session second overall.

McLaren were emphatically the ‘best of the rest’, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne setting the seventh and eighth-quickest times. The latter spun at turn two early in the session after a suspected engine problem. The Renault pair completed the top ten.

Low-grip conditions at the Hungaroring caught several drivers out including the Haas pair. Romain Grosjean made light contact with the barrier and was able to resume work later in the session.

But test driver Antonio Giovinazzi, in his second appearance for the team, made more substantial contact with the barrier. He ripped the front-left wheel off Kevin Magnussen’s car and the session was briefly stopped so the VF-17 could be recovered.

The red flags flew again at the end of the session when Jolyon Palmer damaged his Renault at turn four. He ripped the front wing off his car and came to a stop to avoid causing more damage.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’18.486 31
2 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’18.720 0.234 20
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’18.858 0.372 31
4 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’19.162 0.676 27
5 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’19.248 0.762 30
6 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’19.563 1.077 21
7 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1’19.987 1.501 21
8 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda 1’20.005 1.519 24
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1’20.150 1.664 25
10 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1’20.461 1.975 27
11 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’20.540 2.054 28
12 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’20.574 2.088 23
13 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1’20.780 2.294 27
14 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Renault 1’20.917 2.431 25
15 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1’20.974 2.488 29
16 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’21.313 2.827 20
17 34 Alfonso Celis Force India-Mercedes 1’21.602 3.116 24
18 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’21.785 3.299 31
19 50 Antonio Giovinazzi Haas-Ferrari 1’22.251 3.765 8
20 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari 1’22.490 4.004 29

First practice visual gaps

Daniel Ricciardo – 1’18.486

+0.234 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’18.720

+0.372 Lewis Hamilton – 1’18.858

+0.676 Max Verstappen – 1’19.162

+0.762 Valtteri Bottas – 1’19.248

+1.077 Sebastian Vettel – 1’19.563

+1.501 Fernando Alonso – 1’19.987

+1.519 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’20.005

+1.664 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’20.150

+1.975 Jolyon Palmer – 1’20.461

+2.054 Felipe Massa – 1’20.540

+2.088 Sergio Perez – 1’20.574

+2.294 Daniil Kvyat – 1’20.780

+2.431 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’20.917

+2.488 Lance Stroll – 1’20.974

+2.827 Romain Grosjean – 1’21.313

+3.116 Alfonso Celis – 1’21.602

+3.299 Marcus Ericsson – 1’21.785

+3.765 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’22.251

+4.004 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’22.490

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Best time by tyre

Driver Team Best super-soft time Super-soft gap Best soft time Soft gap Best medium time Medium gap
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’18.858 0.372 None 1’35.916 5.538
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’19.248 0.762 None 1’35.230 4.852
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1’18.486 1’19.920 None
Max Verstappen Red Bull 1’19.162 0.676 None 1’30.378
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’19.563 1.077 None 4’08.096 157.718
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’18.720 0.234 None 4’03.096 152.718
Sergio Perez Force India 1’20.574 2.088 None None
Alfonso Celis Force India 1’21.602 3.116 None None
Felipe Massa Williams 1’20.540 2.054 None 1’30.807 0.429
Lance Stroll Williams 1’20.974 2.488 None 6’31.096 300.718
Fernando Alonso McLaren 1’19.987 1.501 None None
Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1’20.005 1.519 None 5’09.096 218.718
Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso 1’20.917 2.431 1’22.516 2.596 3’59.096 148.718
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1’20.780 2.294 1’22.187 2.267 2’03.578 33.2
Romain Grosjean Haas None 1’21.313 1.393 4’28.096 177.718
Antonio Giovinazzi Haas None 1’22.251 2.331 4’01.096 150.718
Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1’20.150 1.664 None 2’11.412 41.034
Jolyon Palmer Renault 1’20.461 1.975 None 1’58.007 27.629
Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1’21.785 3.299 None None
Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1’22.490 4.004 None None

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

24 comments on “Red Bull lead Ferrari in first practice”

  1. Be nice to see the bull win this gp just on pace

    1. They have not won on pace since 2013. All wins since have been as a result of issues for faster cars.

      1. Which makes Monaco 2016 even more heartbreaking; had Ricciardo won it would have been on genuine merit

        1. Oh man no one can forget that, still disappointed about it even today. @celicadion23

  2. I think Antonio deserves another chance..

    1. After another crash, I fear he is a Haas been.

    2. Well, apart from a great weekend at Australia he has crashed quite a few times now… But who knows, maybe next year Sauber will run two Ferrari jr’s in Giovinazzi and Leclerc?

      1. Weren’t they going to use Honda for next year? Not that it would matters for using other teams junior drivers, as they are using Mercedes junior driver now with Ferrari engines. But I would imagine that they as independent team, they would want driver with at least one experienced race driver.

        1. Just been confirmed that Sauber will be using up to date Ferrari engines for next season.

        2. Their new teamboss (Frederique Vasseur) came in 2 weeks ago in place of Kaltenborn (who had signed the deal with Honda) and he didn’t want to have Honda so he terminated that contract this week and signed an extension with Ferrari

          1. Ahh, just saw the article. So they carry on with Ferrari. Your point have then more merit, maybe they have some Ferrari junior drive deal included to contract.

  3. Raikkonen should win this race man..I hope:p

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      28th July 2017, 13:27

      Been too long since his last win

    2. Don’t have to tell me again…

  4. Nice to see RedBull on top and also McLaren right behind the top 6! Hope it’s legitimate in both cases.

    1. FreddyVictor
      28th July 2017, 10:50

      yeah, thats a nice surprise for McHonda

      hope they can sustain it thru to the race !

  5. I wonder if Lewis and Kimi also set their times on the super soft tyre. It should be a cracking quail for tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised if the top 3 on the grid are from 3 different teams. I’m hoping Max finally has a clean weekend as well.

    Looks like Mclaren’s risk of changing Alonso’s engine in Britain for Hungary is going to pay off (if it doesn’t retire sometime later in the race weekend of course).

    For all the people who are saying that Honda isn’t solely to blame for McLaren Honda’s poor performance really need to take a look at their performance in chassis dependant circuits. On power circuits McLaren Honda are usually 2nd to last and on chassis circuits they are generally the 4th quickest.

    1. @todfod They did – have updated the article with the list of best times by tyre.

      1. @keithcollantine Could you do that sepperately perhaps?

        What I mean is one regular timing sheet with the fastest laptimes and tire they are set on and then a second grahp with fastest laptimes per compound.

    2. @todfod I think indeed McLaren their chassis is at the top half of the field, however that would be expected. They have not suddenly lost all knowledge on how to build a car, they still have way more resources than Force India or Williams. However, I don’t think it’s that black and white in saying it is good. The engine under delivers meaning they’re not taking corners at ‘normal’ speeds either.

  6. I won’t get my hopes up too high, but it’s great to see all three teams up there with a shout at a win this weekend.

    Mclaren certainly showing that their chassis is in a good place, and Renault proving that Silverstone wasn’t a fluke either.

    Ricciardo seems to have an affinity with this track too, would be great to see him take another victory here.

  7. 20 years ago but for his Judd to fail on the last lap. Would that we have such a surprise this weekend (minus the engine failure of course)!

    1. It was a Yamaha, not a Judd but I would love to see a repeat of that with Alonso as Hill!

      1. Sorry Matthijs, it was a Judd engine even if it was labelled Yamaha OX11D, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judd_%28engine%29

Comments are closed.