Mark Webber was the first of the big-name drivers to put in a serious lap time, immediately taking the P1 slot. And it was from that point onwards the Red Bull held it.The Aussie led the way, easily quicker than his rivals, before his team-mate Sebastian Vettel joined the mix, making it a Red Bull 1-2. The duo traded blows for a while before Vettel emerged as the quicker of the two with a 1:20.976.
And although Robert Kubica was the closest to the Red Bull drivers, he found himself over a second off the pace with Jenson Button fourth.
Report: Despite the clouds overhead and rain earlier this morning, the track temperature was already sitting at 31'C when the first practice for the Hungarian GP got underway on Friday morning. All eyes were focused on Felipe Massa as the Brazilian ventured out of the garage to put in his first lap at the circuit that almost claimed his life last season. No problems for the Ferrari driver, though, as he made his way back to his garage. But a few problems for Jarno Trulli as he returned to the Lotus garage with a lot of smoke pouring from his T127. Initial reports suggest it was perhaps bodywork that was overheating. Several drivers opted to do more than one installation lap while Nico Rosberg took it to the max, completing six!
Massa set the first time of the day, a rather slow 1:38.521, which was easily beaten by 12s by Adrian Sutil, who is debuting Force India's new blown diffuser exhaust. Jaime Alguersuari claimed second ahead of Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto. Mark Webber joined the fray, taking first place with a 1:23.396. His team-mate Sebastian Vettel slotted in behind him as Webber lowered the benchmark time for the third successive lap. Pedro de la Rosa took third behind the Red Bulls, followed by Alguersuari, Vitaly Petrov, Nico Rosberg, Kamui Kobayashi and Sutil.
Michael Schumacher joined the running, claiming fourth place on his first lap, while Fernando Alonso went eighth quickest. At the halfway point of the session, Webber, with a 1:21.710, led Vettel, Rosberg, de la Rosa, Robert Kuibca, Schumacher, Petrov and Alguersuari. But that didn't last long as Vettel went quicker with a 1:21.275 and Schumacher climbed to third place behind the Bulls.
Kubica was the next to take the fight to the Bulls, moving up to third place with Barrichello fourth, followed by Schumacher, Alonso, Rosberg and de la Rosa. It was a slow start for McLaren with Lewis Hamilton only managing the 15th best time while his team-mate Jenson Button had yet to even set a time.
Vettel lowered the benchmark to a 1:21.177 but his team-mate Webber was on an even faster lap and took the P1 slot by 0.169s. With less than half an hour on the clock, Button ventured out, taking 17th place, right behind Hamilton on the timesheets. Button continued lapping, moving up to fourth place.
Yellow flags were waved - for the first time in the session - when Vitaly Petrov spun his Renault through the last corner, coming to a halt on the straight. The rookie's mistake cost both Hamilton and Kubica, who are on quicker laps. The action resumed but with few changes to the timesheets as lap after lap the drivers put in the mileage, working on their programmes and eventually the data.
The final few minutes saw a flurry of activity but try as they might, Red Bull's rivals were not able to put an end to the team's 1-2 with Vettel quicker than Webber. Kubica finished third but over a second off the pace.
Times:
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:20.976 29 laps
02. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:21.106 + 0.130 27 laps
03. Kubica Renault 1:22.072 + 1.096 21 laps
04. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.444 + 1.468 17 laps
05. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:22.601 + 1.625 25 laps
06. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.764 + 1.788 24 laps
07. Alonso Ferrari 1:22.772 + 1.796 25 laps
08. Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.777 + 1.801 25 laps
09. Schumacher Mercedes 1:22.792 + 1.816 26 laps
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:22.966 + 1.990 25 laps
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:23.003 + 2.027 19 laps
12. Massa Ferrari 1:23.007 + 2.031 26 laps
13. Petrov Renault 1:23.249 + 2.273 24 laps
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:23.327 + 2.351 23 laps
15. di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:23.520 + 2.544 19 laps
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.780 + 2.804 22 laps
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.868 + 2.892 28 laps
18. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.075 + 3.099 15 laps
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:25.032 + 4.056 22 laps
20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:25.210 + 4.234 23 laps
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:25.990 + 5.014 21 laps
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.686 + 5.710 17 laps
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:26.990 + 6.014 34 laps
24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:28.157 + 7.181 24 laps
Source: Planet-F1
