Hamilton tops FP3 in Hungary

Lewis Hamilton edged out Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg by a mere 0.098s in FP3 for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The pair went out with roughly 20 minutes remaining on soft tires and knocked off Sahara Force India’s Nico
Hulkenburg, who stood atop the timesheet for much of the session before ultimately dropping to sixth overall.

Sebastian Vettel set the third fastest time but the Scuderia Ferrari driver was nearly a full second off the pace compared to Mercedes. The four-time Formula One World Champion was nearly 0.300s over Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat, but the talk of the session was Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn suffered a “dramatic water leak” according to his engineer. The issue follows a rough FP1 that saw Raikkonen bring out a red flag with a destroyed front wing that littered the track with debris. Without getting a chance to run on the soft compound it ended any chance of seeing what Raikkonen could accomplish, settling for 16th.

The biggest news comes from McLaren by way of Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard managed to drive the Honda-powered machine to eighth overall, 1.849s off the pace, but ahead of both Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas of Williams, who managed to finish 12th and 14th.

After flipping in FP1 following a suspension failure and not running any of FP2, Sergio Perez ended up 15th for Sahara Force India. Down nearly a full second to teammate Hulkenberg.

About Joey Barnes 600 Articles
Joey Barnes is the Founder of Motorsports Tribune, an outlet that began with the goal of helping aspiring journalists break into and grow the industry. A regular on the racing scene since 2013, the journey for Joey started by covering a Grand-Am event at Circuit of The Americas in his home state of Texas. He has since primarily focused on the IndyCar Series, with appearances in the garages of NASCAR, paddocks of Formula 1, IMSA and World Endurance Championship, while also occasionally engulfing clouds of dust at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals and select Supercross rounds. With previous stops at Autoweek, IndyCar.com, Motorsport.com and RACER, among others, Joey evolved from the singular task as a freelance writer to advanced roles behind the copy desk and alongside some of the best editorial teams in the business. Recognized as a multi-time award winner by the National Motorsports Press Association, Joey currently resides in Dallas-Fort Worth with his trusty four-legged canine companion, Rocket.

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