Gasly tops times after rain hits second Hungary practice

Budapest: Pierre Gasly topped the times ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in Friday afternoon’s rain-abbreviated second free practice ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Frenchman recorded a best lap in one minute and 17.854 seconds to outpace the Dutchman by 0.053 seconds, the lap times all set in the opening half hour of a desultory 90-minutes session.

Defending five-time champion Lewis Hamilton was third ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who ran using a fresh engine after changing units following a misfire that prevented him taking part in the morning opening session topped by the Briton.

Daniel Ricciardo was fifth for Renault ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, Nico Hulkenberg in the second Renault and Antonio Giovinazzi in the second Alfa. Daniil Kvyat was 10th for Toro Rosso.

“Not much to learn from that,” said Gasly afterwards. “We were strong in both sessions in wet and dry conditions and I am happy with the car and what we achieved. It’s good to have done this much work in such unpredictable conditions.”

A rain shower shortly before the session left the track in a slightly greasy and challenging condition for the drivers as the air temperature fell to 23 degrees Celsius and the track to 32 degrees.

Bottas was first out, his Mercedes fitted with a new engine from his pool of units, to lead the way ahead of his team-mate Hamilton.

The Finn was soon on top of the times before Alex Albon lost control of his Toro Rosso at the final corner, after running his left wheels on the grass. The session was red-flagged and halted for five minutes after his car slid heavily into the barriers and was damaged.

The Thai driver was unhurt and climbed out of the cockpit before his car was lifted to safety by a crane and the session continued.

After Bottas, Hamilton, on hards, Verstappen, on mediums, and Gasly, on softs, set quickest laps until the rain intensified forcing everyone to withdraw to their garages.

This created a total lull for more than half an hour before, after steady rain, the track was sufficiently wet for the teams to fit intermediates for the final part of the session and use it for wet conditions practice.

Agence France-Presse