Max eighth in Hungaroring opening practice

Published on 17 July 2020 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen opened his Hungarian Grand Prix weekend with an eighth place on the first Friday practice session. Mercedes dominated FP1 at the Hungaroring with Lewis Hamilton leading the way ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, both Racing Point, completed the top four.

At the start of the session, dark clouds hover over the Hungaroring as a flurry of drives head out for their installation laps. Seven minutes in, Max joins the circuit, after which he is the first driver to clock a lap. He does so on the hard Pirelli compound.

After several laps on these tyres, Max, now on a set of the medium Pirellis, complains over the radio: “No, the feeling is bad and it’s starting to rain. I’m coming in now”, is Max’ responds to a request to stay out longer to gather more data.

At the halfway mark, the track is empty due to light rain, but with forty minutes to go, both Haas and Mercedes break the silence by sending both their cars out. Soon after, Max follows suit on the soft Pirellis but his flying lap is only fast enough for P7 which by the end of the session will become P8.

Red Bull Racing colleague Alex Albon struggles even more by only clocking the thirteenth quickest time of the morning session, also on the soft tyres.

The frustration does not end for Max. In the final stages of the session, Nicolas Lattifi obstructs one of the Dutchman’s flying laps. A similar incident between the Canadian and the Dutchman occurred at the Red Bull Ring. Like in Austria, Max lets his contempt be known by gesticulating as he passes the Williams.

In the closing minutes, the lap times are no longer bettered; most drivers are lapping on used rubber. Pierre Gasly is the only driver who has not set a time with his mechanics working flat out through the session to fix a technical issue on the Alpha Tauri.

Hungarian GP contest: win a white RBR MV T-shirt from the new MV collection 2020

Results first free practice Hungary: