Vettel smashes Hungaroring track record in final practice

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix third practice

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Ferrari were comfortably quickest in final practice as Sebastian Vettel lapped almost nine-tenths of a second quicker than any of their rivals.

In hot conditions at the Hungaroring, with track temperatures exceeding 50C, the world championship leader beat Rubens Barrichello’s 13-year-old Hungaroring track record by 1.4 seconds to head the final hour of practice.

Aside from his team mate in second, only the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas managed to get within a second of Vettel’s time. Lewis Hamilton had to settle for fifth place behind Max Verstappen, the quickest of the two Red Bull drivers.

Yesterday’s pace-setter Daniel Ricciardo did just seven laps before being halted by a gearbox fault which left him stuck in fifth gear. He fell to eighth in the final order behind Stoffel Vandoorne, a strong sixth for McLaren, and Nico Hulkenberg, who will take a grid penalty after qualifying.

Fernando Alonso and Jolyon Palmer completed the top ten which, for once, contained none of the Mercedes customer teams.

Esteban Ocon was the quicker of the two Force Indias in 12th place, a few hundredths slower than Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Toro Rosso. But Williams suffered a setback.

Both FW40s ended up near the bottom of the times sheets with only the Sauber pair behind them. And Felipe Massa’s participation in the rest of the weekend is now in doubty.

Massa reported he was unwell yesterday after second practice but returned to participate today. However he felt ill again during final practice and Williams may now draft in reserve driver Paul di Resta to take over.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelFerrari1’17.01717
27Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’17.4920.47516
377Valtteri BottasMercedes1’17.9140.89715
433Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’18.1941.17725
544Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’18.4341.41714
62Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’18.6381.62118
727Nico HulkenbergRenault1’18.6991.68220
83Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’18.7141.6977
914Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’18.8841.86714
1030Jolyon PalmerRenault1’18.9561.93919
1155Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’19.3002.28322
1231Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’19.3522.33522
1326Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’19.4552.43823
1411Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’19.6092.59222
158Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’19.6222.60521
1620Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’19.8952.87819
1719Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’20.2553.23812
1818Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’20.3793.36224
1994Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’20.4463.42924
209Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’20.7483.73119

Third practice visual gaps

Sebastian Vettel – 1’17.017

+0.475 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’17.492

+0.897 Valtteri Bottas – 1’17.914

+1.177 Max Verstappen – 1’18.194

+1.417 Lewis Hamilton – 1’18.434

+1.621 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’18.638

+1.682 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’18.699

+1.697 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’18.714

+1.867 Fernando Alonso – 1’18.884

+1.939 Jolyon Palmer – 1’18.956

+2.283 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’19.300

+2.335 Esteban Ocon – 1’19.352

+2.438 Daniil Kvyat – 1’19.455

+2.592 Sergio Perez – 1’19.609

+2.605 Romain Grosjean – 1’19.622

+2.878 Kevin Magnussen – 1’19.895

+3.238 Felipe Massa – 1’20.255

+3.362 Lance Stroll – 1’20.379

+3.429 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’20.446

+3.731 Marcus Ericsson – 1’20.748

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Sebastian VettelFerrari1’19.5631’18.6381’17.017-1.62166
2Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’18.7201’18.7551’17.492-1.22864
3Valtteri BottasMercedes1’19.2481’18.6561’17.914-0.74278
4Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’19.1621’18.9511’18.194-0.75777
5Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’18.8581’18.7791’18.434-0.34576
6Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’18.4861’18.4551’18.714+0.25970
7Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’20.0051’19.9091’18.638-1.27160
8Nico HulkenbergRenault1’20.1501’19.7141’18.699-1.01578
9Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’19.9871’19.8151’18.884-0.93166
10Jolyon PalmerRenault1’20.4611’21.1751’18.956-1.50558
11Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’20.9171’19.8341’19.300-0.53482
12Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’20.1261’19.352-0.77456
13Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’20.7801’20.5771’19.455-1.12287
14Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’20.5741’20.2661’19.609-0.65778
15Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’21.3131’21.5041’19.622-1.69166
16Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’21.3451’19.895-1.4530
17Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’20.5401’20.8691’20.255-0.28562
18Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’20.9741’20.7911’20.379-0.41284
19Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’22.4901’21.7221’20.446-1.27669
20Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’21.7851’21.5591’20.748-0.81181
21Alfonso CelisForce India-Mercedes1’21.60224
22Antonio GiovinazziHaas-Ferrari1’22.2518

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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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18 comments on “Vettel smashes Hungaroring track record in final practice”

  1. Sviatoslav (@)
    29th July 2017, 10:54

    This is really bad.

    1. For Massa you mean, i hope he is alright.

      1. On the other hand, I would love to see Di Resta back, it’s an exciting prospect. Di Resta had a top junior career and a competitive f1 career, he should still be an f1 driver. I want to see what he can deliver on such short notice, he’s quite tall and heavy but I hope that that does not hamper his performance too much and we are able to have a glimpse to how much a driver evolves throughout the season, how much slower will he be relative to what Massa would have been.

    2. No, this is great.
      Forza Ferrari

    3. FreddyVictor
      29th July 2017, 11:02

      kinda depends on your viewpoint !
      I do wonder if the lack of pace for Merc is due to their longer wheelbase?

      anyway, could shape into a great race!

  2. MadmanAttack
    29th July 2017, 11:01

    DI RESTA!!

  3. If every quali and race reflects this fp3 for the rest of the deason it will be a brilliant dream. Sadly Merc will improve in quali and the race.

    1. One can dream, but based on the results in previous races, it seems more circuit dependent than a reflection of the current order.
      Ferrari cannot gain one full second on Mercedes in just two weeks. We’ll have a better view in Spa: long straights and high speed corners.

      1. Yeah. Merc dominated Britain to some degree if Ferrari fo the same here maybe it equals out at other races and we see the contenders in a load of dog fights which would be best for many fans.

    2. Silvers likely struggle here and wipe
      the floor with everyone at Spa! Same with Singapore and Monza.

    3. A dream for a Ferrari fan maybe.

  4. Is Ricciardo at risk of changing his gearbox?

  5. if di resta hasn’t raced since 2013, doesn’t he need to do 300km in current car for a superlicence???

    1. According to the FIA International Sporting Code a driver may be granted a superlicence if they “have been granted a Super Licence prior to the previous 3 seasons (excluding Free Practice Only Super Licence). In this case, the driver must be judged by the FIA to have recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability in single-seater formula cars.” As Di Resta had a Super Licence in 2013 he’s fine. It’s the same mechanism by which Robert Kubica is still eligible.

      1. Ok, i read that but also read a 300km clause… otherwise why are renault testing kubica at all in hungary at the expense of a race driver? i thought, like many fans thought, that kubica has to achieve 300kms in a current car, and renault are doing this test to acieve superlicencr. Did de resta do 300kms testing in current car?

        1. Also di resta had mot recently demonstrsted outstsnding singlse seater…. it is 4 years ago before n ew ruled…. i thought that was the concept of kubica test.. to demonstrate form.. to pass this test.

  6. Great to see Di Resta back. He deserves a full time F1 seat more so than half the current field.

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