FP2: Vettel heads Bottas in wet second Hungarian GP practice session

At a sopping wet Hungaroring, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel gave the team something to smile about, setting the fastest time in Free Practice 2 for the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix with a 1m 40.464s, 0.272s ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.

With lap times around 24 seconds slower than the drivers were managing in the dry on Friday morning, Vettel and Bottas finished ahead of the McLaren of Carlos Sainz in third and the two Racing Points of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez – although the likes of FP1 leader Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Alex Albon failed to set a lap time in the largely unrepresentative session, which saw drivers splitting their running between the intermediate and full wet tyres.

AS IT HAPPENED - Second Practice in Hungary

Having missed the whole of Free Practice 1 with a sensor issue, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly tried to use FP2 to catch up on lost time, becoming the first driver out in the session on full wets – although the Frenchman managed just seven laps, complaining of a smell of burning in his AT01 right at the end of the session, as he ended up in P6.

With only 13 drivers setting a time, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was seventh, 2.3s adrift of Vettel, and ahead of the Haas of Romain Grosjean.

Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, taking back his car from Robert Kubica for FP2, complained of having “zero grip” and endured a number of off-track excursions, but racked up the most number of laps with 16.

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He finished in P9, one place in front of the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was also unhappy with the lack of rear grip on his SF1000 as he finished 10th, ahead of the second Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi, the McLaren of Lando Norris and the AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat.

So, perhaps not much to be learned from the second free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. But with a changeable forecast for the weekend ahead, might some of the drivers have gained some valuable knowledge in FP2? Stay tuned to qualifying tomorrow and the race on Sunday to find out.

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