Sebastian Vettel tops FP2 in Hungary - FP2 report

Sebastian Vettel topped free practice two with a 1:16.834s ahead of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, the Red Bull’s looking very interested in a fight for pole tomorrow.

Mercedes and Ferrari were the first of the big names out on circuit, both opting for soft tyre runs as the teams lean towards a one-stop strategy in the race, Mercedes choosing not to use either of their medium compound tyres.

Ferrari found themselves far off the pace after the opening exchanges, 0.7s off of the pace of the leading pace with Hamilton fastest from teammate Bottas. Red Bull joined the fray and found a turn of pace soon after to shake up the running order, usurping Hamilton at the top of the timing sheets to record the first and second fastest times, Verstappen the quicker of the two.

On the ultrasofts however it was a different story. The rear-limited Mercedes punishing its rear tyres in a big way during their qualifying simulation laps and by the time they got into the final sector they had no grip, sliding wide and losing the lap so neither improved.

Ferrari turned their tyres on right away with Vettel going fastest on his first attempt. Both Red Bull’s improved but couldn’t beat the German’s time whilst Kimi Raikkonen was 0.3s off the pace down in fourth.

With around 40 minutes remaining, storm clouds gathered away from the circuit with Hamilton reporting over team radio he saw spots of rain on his visor, the weather threatening to curtail the teams’ race runs as they were eager to gather all the data for Sunday. Luckily it never materialised and runs concluded with Vettel's ultrasoft run being a highlight, keeping good pace on a very long stint.

Mercedes look threatened by Red Bull who themselves could throw up a surprise or two come qualifying, but it's definitely Ferrari on top for now.

Elsewhere, the midfield battle looks to be very tight going into Saturday with five teams separated by just 0.8s. Romain Grosjean fastest of the rest but the battle behind closes up even more to just 0.4s, fight for best of the rest going into qualifying then is far from settled.