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Hungarian GP: Gasly quickest before rain hits FP2

Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly topped the second Formula 1 free practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, setting the fastest time before the rain came.

Pierre Gasly, Red Bull Racing RB15

Pierre Gasly, Red Bull Racing RB15

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The 90-minute session started with rain widely anticipated, meaning teams were eager to get on track to capitalise on the dry conditions.

But they were interrupted by the session being red-flagged after three minutes thanks to Alex Albon crashing his Toro Rosso at the final corner.

Albon touched the grass with his left wheels and was pitched sideways into the barrier at the right-hander, subsequently admitting it was "driver error".

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After a six-minute delay, the session resumed and with very light rain sporadically falling the drivers headed out on a variety of different tyre compounds while they could still use slicks.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was the first to set a new fastest time, posting a 1m18.289s on mediums that displaced Kimi Raikkonen's effort from the initial three minutes of running.

Teammate Lewis Hamilton then eclipsed him with a lap of 1m18.110s on hards, which he subsequently lowered to a 1m17.995s.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen then hit the front on mediums, setting a time of 1m17.909s.

But Gasly then set his fastest time, a 1m18.854s to secure top spot shortly before the track was officially declared wet after 22 minutes when the rain intensified.

Nobody was able to improve their times in the rest of the session, although everyone except the eliminated Albon did run on intermediates and Carlos Sainz even ran a single lap on slicks.

Verstappen held onto second place with his lap, 0.055s slower, ahead of the two Mercedes drivers, with Hamilton ahead of Bottas.

Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo was briefly as high as second with his pace on softs before being shuffled down to fifth fastest, 0.743s off the pace.

Raikkonen ended up as the best-placed Ferrari-powered car in sixth place, ahead of the lead works car of Charles Leclerc, who used mediums for his fastest time.

Nico Hulkenberg put the second Renault eighth using softs, ahead of the similarly-shod Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso, also on the red-walled tyres.

Romain Grosjean, still running the Australian GP-specification Haas, was 11th fastest on mediums, 1.195s off the pace ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen's upgraded version, running hards.

Sebastian Vettel ran on hards when the track was dry, ending up 13th and 1.400s off the pace – also having an off-track moment when he cut the Turn 6/7 chicane.

Sainz was best of the McLarens in 14th with a time 1.544s down on medium rubber, with Racing Point's Sergio Perez on hards three tenths further back.

Lance Stroll also used hards to take 16th place ahead of the soft-shod Williams of George Russell, who was only two seconds off the fastest time.

McLaren driver Lando Norris lost track time early on to a minor hydraulic leak that manifested itself when he first went out, but did use mediums to set 18th fastest time.

Robert Kubica was 19th and slowest of those to set a time, with Albon not having completed a flying lap before his crash.

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap
1 France Pierre Gasly
Red Bull 16 1'17.854
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 12 1'17.909 0.055
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 15 1'17.995 0.141
4 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 18 1'18.184 0.330
5 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
Renault 13 1'18.597 0.743
6 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 25 1'18.682 0.828
7 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 21 1'18.852 0.998
8 Germany Nico Hulkenberg
Renault 14 1'18.892 1.038
9 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 25 1'18.909 1.055
10 Russian Federation Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso 22 1'18.957 1.103
11 France Romain Grosjean
Haas 19 1'19.149 1.295
12 Denmark Kevin Magnussen
Haas 21 1'19.178 1.324
13 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari 24 1'19.254 1.400
14 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
McLaren 22 1'19.398 1.544
15 Mexico Sergio Perez
Racing Point 13 1'19.721 1.867
16 Canada Lance Stroll
Racing Point 14 1'19.774 1.920
17 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 14 1'19.889 2.035
18 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 6 1'20.401 2.547
19 Poland Robert Kubica
Williams 15 1'20.439 2.585
20 Thailand Alex Albon
Toro Rosso 2

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