Motorsport journalist and podcaster
Lewis Hamilton edged Max Verstappen by just 0.088s in final practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix after the session was suspended following a heavy crash by Mick Schumacher.
The title rivals set their times in a frantic final nine-minute dash for qualifying-representative times after teams lost eight minutes to Schumacher’s crash with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Schumacher had been embarking on a final qualifying simulation of his own when he lost the rear of his Haas car at the right-hand Turn 11, sliding off the circuit and smacking heavily sideways into the tire barrier.
Continue reading on RACERValtteri Bottas edged teammate Lewis Hamilton to the best time of FP2 at the Hungarian Grand Prix on a strong afternoon for Mercedes.
The Finn’s fastest time on the soft tire — a 1m17.012s — was just 0.027s quicker than Hamilton’s best effort thanks to purple splits in the first two sectors, surrendering time only in the final third of the lap.
Title leader Max Verstappen was third and 0.298s off the pace. The Dutchman struggled badly with balance in his Red Bull Racing machine with both the soft and the medium compounds.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen opened his Hungarian Grand Prix campaign with the fastest time of first practice ahead of Valtteri Bottas.
The Dutchman set his lap in the final 10 minutes of the session, forced to wait until the end of a red flag suspension to collect Yuki Tsunoda’s crashed AlphaTauri, to snatch top spot from the Mercedes by just 0.061.
It was an especially promising result for the Red Bull Racing driver given he was running with the Honda power unit involved in his 51G Silverstone crash two weeks ago to evaluate its viability to remain in his pool. Any serious problem with the motor would have pointed towards a near certain grid penalty later in the season for breaching his engine parts allocation.
Continue reading on RACERThe title fight is sizzling, and a battle at the hot Hungaroring will decide whether it’s Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton who takes momentum into the summer break. Featuring last year’s guest, iconic F1 commentator Ben Edwards.
The dust may have settled on the dramatic on-track action of the British Grand Prix, but Red Bull Racing is still ratcheting up the tension in this tightening title fight.