BOTTAS ON TOP IN HUNGARY

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has come out on top after the opening two practice sessions at Hungaroring the ahead of the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Finn ended the day with the fastest time of 1m17.012s at the conclusion of FP2, narrowly edging out teammate Lewis Hamilton in a strong showing for Mercedes.

Max Verstappen topped the earlier FP1 session, however his Red Bull struggled with both understeer and oversteer as track temperatures continued to rise in heatwave conditions in Hungary.

The Dutchman went on to record the third-fastest time, 0.298s off the pace of the Mercedes duo but comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.

Esteban Ocon put in a strong showing for Alpine with the fourth-fastest time, just ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.

Pierre Gasly continued to look comfortable at AlphaTauri recording the sixth fastest time. The same could not be said for his teammate Yuki Tsunoda who crashed in FP1.

Yuki Tsunoda crashed in FP1 – Image: Motorsport Images

The Japanese driver looked like he was struggling to get to grips with the Hungarian circuit in FP1 before backing his AlphaTauri into the tyre wall at Turn 4. Triggering a red flag interruption with 19 minutes left in the session.

Tsunoda sat out much of FP2 while his crew worked to repair his car from the earlier incident. He did return to the circuit with just 2 minutes remaining in the session to record the 17th fastest time.

Fernando Alonso bounced back from his own spin at Turn 4 in FP1 to set the seventh-fastest time in the second Alpine.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel ended the day eighth, just ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin).

Just outside of the top ten were the two Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz as they looked to verify upgrades rolled out at Silverstone.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo could only manage 13th for McLaren, well off the pace of the leaders but only 0.4s behind his teammate.

Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) led the usual procession of cars to make up the rear of the field, just ahead of George Russell (Williams).

Nicholas Latifi (Williams), Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher (Haas), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and Nikita Mazepin (Haas) rounded out the field at the end of opening day.

Coverage of the FP3 is set to commence at 8.00pm AEST tonight on Fox Sports 506 ahead of qualifying for Hungarian Grand Prix.

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