Hamilton on top again

Lewis Hamilton
12 April 2012

Lewis Hamilton began his Hungarian Grand Prix weekend as he ended Sunday's race in Germany - out in front.

Aiming for back-to-back victories for the first time in over a year, Hamilton finished the opening 90-minute practice session at the Hungaroring at the top of the timesheet.

Clearly still on a high from his success at the Nurburgring five days ago, the 26-year-old deposed championship leader Sebastian Vettel from top spot with around 15 minutes remaining, covering the 14 turns of the 2.722-mile circuit in a time of one minute 23.350secs.

For comparison purposes, and to underline just how much more there is to come from Hamilton and his rivals, the time was just under five seconds off Vettel's pole lap of a year ago.

With overcast skies and an air temperature of 20 degrees, far below the searing heat normally experienced at this time of the year, the much cooler climes clearly assisted Hamilton's McLaren.

Vettel had to settle for second on this occasion, 0.214secs behind Hamilton, with Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari a further 0.078secs adrift.

Both men will be hoping for far hotter temperatures for the rest of the weekend if they are to put Hamilton and McLaren in the shade.

Mark Webber was fourth quickest in his Red Bull, 0.316secs down, although the 34-year-old Australian's session drew to a close much quicker than he had envisaged.

Twenty-one minutes from the close, Webber spun, burying the nose of his car in a barrier before twice pirouetting through 360 degrees. Remarkably, the only damage sustained was the loss of the front wing that was collected by a marshal as he was able to slowly return to the garage.

Jenson Button and Felipe Massa ensured the three leading teams covered the top six places, with the Briton - competing in his 200th grands prix this weekend - 0.422secs down. As for Brazilian Massa, who remains confident of beating Alonso at some stage this season, he was cut adrift as he was 0.765secs off the pace.

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