Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of the three practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix but saw his advantage cut to just 0.098s in FP3.
The championship leader was fastest in both Friday sessions as team-mate Nico Rosberg admitted he was "chasing my tail" throughout the day. However, on Saturday morning Rosberg was much more competitive and Hamilton was only able to retain to spot by less than 0.1s.
Rosberg finished second but had to end his session slightly early as he stopped at the end of the pit lane with two minutes to go. Despite that, the two Mercedes drivers were comfortably clear of the rest of the field as Sebastian Vettel ended the session 0.889s adrift in third place - the only other driver to get within a second of the leading pair.
Daniil Kvyat was fourth but Red Bull's encouraging pace from Friday faded slightly, with the gap to Hamilton being 1.2s and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo languishing in ninth place. Kvyat pipped Carlos Sainz with his final lap, leaving the Toro Rosso driver in fifth place despite appearing to struggle with his brakes early in the session.
Sixth was Nico Hulkenberg as Force India made up for lost time on Friday. Following Sergio Perez's heavy crash in FP1, neither driver ran in FP2 while a suspension issue was investigated. After finding the cause and implementing a solution, Force India had a busy morning on Saturday as the two cars completed 55 laps between them, though Perez was down in 15th.
Max Verstappen was seventh quickest - 0.3s slower than team-mate Sainz - with Fernando Alonso an encouraging eighth for McLaren ahead of Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean's Lotus.
It was a disappointing session for Williams as Felipe Massa finished 12th and Valtteri Bottas 14th, suggesting Q3 could be a struggle for the team later in the day. However, it was a close session as just half a second covered Alonso in eighth back to Perez in P15.
Kimi Raikkonen was 16th after he hit more trouble and completed just 12 laps. Raikkonen was coasting in the middle sector and had to skip the chicane to allow traffic past, but he returned to the garage and didn't run again after radioing in to say: "I don't know what happened, do I have a puncture?"
Click here for a gallery of Sergio Perez's crash in FP1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:22.997 | 12 |
02 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:23.095 | 20 |
03 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:23.886 | 19 |
04 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:24.215 | 17 |
05 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:24.326 | 22 |
06 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:24.483 | 30 |
07 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:24.678 | 22 |
08 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:24.846 | 16 |
09 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:24.929 | 12 |
10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:24.941 | 22 |
11 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:24.953 | 16 |
12 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:25.094 | 13 |
13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:25.229 | 16 |
14 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:25.345 | 17 |
15 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:25.393 | 25 |
16 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:25.661 | 12 |
17 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:26.060 | 20 |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:26.095 | 20 |
19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:28.757 | 19 |
20 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:28.908 | 20 |
Sebastian Montoya, the 19-year-old son of former Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, is set…
When former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto took on the role of Chief Operating Officer…
Charles Leclerc concluded the 2024 F1 season with a sense of satisfaction, the Ferrari driver…
Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has voiced his dismay at FIA president Mohammed Ben…
Super Aguri's application to join Formula 1 became a reality on this day in 2005,…
Ferrari roared back into contention in 2024 to deliver their strongest season in years, thanks…