Hungaroring, 30 July

Allowing for the fact that it is dangerous to read too much significance into the results of Friday practice, because of the usual imponderables relating to tyre choice and fuel load through the field, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro appears to have made a competitive start to the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. Fernando Alonso ended the day second fastest, splitting the two dominant cars this season, the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, who topped the time sheet and team-mate Mark Webber in third. Felipe Massa was right behind in fourth place.




The morning session at this circuit is always complicated, as the barely used track surface is very dirty and lacks grip, before gradually improving throughout the day, but the Scuderia had a busy time nevertheless, with Felipe running with and without the blown rear wing to evaluate what would be the best solution on this generally low speed track. The rest of the day was given over to the usual Friday work of analysing set-up and balance on the F10 and evaluating the two types of tyre the drivers must use for Sunday’s race. Vitaly Petrov was fifth for Renault, with his team-mate Robert Kubica seventh, while Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren was the meat in the French sandwich.

A productive day for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro then, which also owed something to the fact that the threat of rain did not materialise, although current forecasts predict the possibility of a storm just in time for the final Q3 part of tomorrow’s qualifying session.