Budapest , 24 July 2009

It is something of a cliché that while Budapest , the only capital city on the F1 calendar, is a great venue for a Grand Prix, the actual Hungaroring produces a rather dull sporting contest. Today, that was far from being the case, as nearly the whole grid was very close in terms of lap times, which promises more excitement to come over the remaining two days of the meeting.

With temperatures up in the thirties, tyre management was a key consideration and of the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro duo, it was Felipe Massa who seemed the least happy with this aspect of the day, further affected by an off-track excursion which damaged his rear suspension. Kimi Raikkonen, a past winner here, seemed more satisfied with his day’s work, reflected in the fact that while he posted the eleventh fastest time this afternoon, the Brazilian was down in eighteenth spot. All this meant plenty of work for the Scuderia mechanics, especially as the day’s programme also involved evaluating some solutions aimed at the 2010 season: with the ban on in-season testing, Friday’s three hours of practice has to be used in every way possible and future planning will become an ever more important part of the programme as we head towards the final part of this year’s championship.



Signs of a McLaren revival first noticed at the Nurburging a fortnight ago were reinforced today as the two fastest drivers were Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen. Third was the Williams of Nico Rosberg, followed by the Red Bull of German GP winner, Mark Webber. The top six was rounded off by this pair’s team-mates, Kazuki Nakajima fifth and Sebastian Vettel sixth.

Cooler weather is still on the menu for tomorrow. This and the evolving track conditions will provide drivers and engineers with another set of variables to deal with in Qualifying.