Second in the morning and sixth in the afternoon session, Hamilton’s team-mate
Jenson Button is chasing his third victory in Hungary. “This race always
feels special to me,” he said. “I scored my first F1 victory here, in 2006,
and then won again last year.
“Some people think the circuit is a bit Mickey Mouse, but it has a nice flow.
Overtaking can be a bit difficult, but there are possibilities.”
Kimi Raikkonen was second for Lotus in the afternoon session, his best lap
still 0.185sec adrift of Hamilton’s time, but ahead of Williams’s Bruno
Senna.
The Brazilian is sorely in need of a strong finish after a run of poor
results, and third represented a good effort. As is customary, he stood down
during the morning to give Williams’s highly rated Finnish tyro Valtteri
Bottas some seat time.
The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and championship leader Fernando Alonso were
fourth and fifth, but it was a low-key day for the customarily competitive
Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
The team have been the centre of attention for the past two days, after they
were obliged to revise their engine mapping.
Supplier Renault insisted the alterations will make a difference that amounts
to “no more than hundredths” and Red Bull will probably show their full hand
today.
There was no mistaking Vettel’s mood, however.
Turn Five is one of the Hungaroring’s best barometers of commitment, a fast,
sweeping, uphill right-hander, and the German was as good to watch through
there as anyone, constantly taunting the laws of physics as he thumped
across the kerbs.
Michael Schumacher showed a little less control in his Mercedes. For the
second time in as many Fridays, the seven-time champion crashed in slippery
conditions. “I locked up and ran out of road,” he said.
“I lost the front wing, but other than that the car was undamaged.”