Vettel clocks in fastest in FP2 rain-disrupted session

Sebastian Vettel put Ferrari at the top of the timesheets in Friday's second free practice session, but unfortunately for the Italian outfit the performance wasn't achieved under dry conditions.

The rain-hit practice session was rendered largely irrelevant by the treacherous conditions with many drivers - including Lewis Hamilton - limiting their running to the odd installation lap.

Vettel's best effort put the German 0.272s clear of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, while McLaren's Carlos Sainz was third.

• 2020 Hungarian GP Free Practice 2 - Results

Threats of rain blew over the Hungaroring on Friday morning, but the clouds discharged their supply of water in between sessions while light rain continued to fall at the outset of FP2.

With wet and intermediate tyres in short supply, teams were understandably reluctant to take to the track when the light went green at the end of the pitlane.

However, AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly, who spent FP1 confined to his team's garage because of an engine problem, undertook a cautious installation lap to check his car's systems and the track conditions.

Twenty minutes in, Racing Point's Sergio Perez, who was an impressive third in the morning running, ventured out to test the waters, but the RP20's slides and twitches indicated that grip remained very precarious.

Lance Stroll nevertheless followed in his teammate's wake, even beating Perez's irrelevant time that was 26 seconds off the morning's pace.

Renault's Esteban Ocon risked sampling the inters but thought the better of it after just a single lap, as did teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Just before the session hit the 60-minute mark, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc had the track to themselves, with the German's effort putting him at the top of the time sheet, almost 2 seconds clear of his future Aston Martin Racing teammate's… sorry, Stroll's best.

With 25 minutes to run, Bottas coasted down the pitlane to check out the conditions. On his first flying lap, the Finn punched in P2, just 0.272s down on Vettel.

Shortly after, Sainz also overhauled both Racing Point drivers to position himself 3rd behind Vettel and Bottas.

Gradually, the front runners switched to intermediates and more drivers joined the action although no one felt inclined to up the ante given the treacherous state of the track.

The session concluded with bragging rights for fastest lap being awarded to Vettel, the Ferrari driver edging Bottas, Sainz, Stroll and Perez.

Gasly managed to put seven laps under his belt, the fastest of which put him 6th, just ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, while Romain Grosjean, Kimi Raikkonen and Charles Leclerc rounded off the top ten.

Seven drivers, including Hamilton did not set times in the rain-disrupted session.

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