Ricciardo follows up Azerbaijan win with storming practice in Budapest
Daniel Ricciardo cemented his status as a real contender for the Hungarian Grand Prix when he completed a surprise practice double yesterday.
Ricciardo’s Red Bull team have a number of updates on their car at the Hungaroring for the final round of the championship before the sport’s now traditional four-week summer break. And the early signs appeared promising for the former world champions after Ricciardo, a winner at last month’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finished top of the time sheets in both sessions.
He was 0.183 seconds clear of championship leader Sebastian Vettel, while Lewis Hamilton, who trails the German by a single point in this year’s title race, was only fifth.
Hamilton, however, who is bidding to equal Michael Schumacher’s all-time pole record, failed to set a competitive time on the supersoft tyre – the fastest of the compounds available this weekend – and was only three-tenths shy of Ricciardo’s best effort.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was third in the order with Kimi Raikkonen fourth and Max Verstappen sixth. The top six cars, meanwhile, were separated by less than half-a-second to set up what could prove to be a nail-biting qualifying session today.
British driver Jolyon Palmer is in desperate need of a strong weekend after his so-far pointless opening half of the year.
But the under-fire Englishman had little cause to celebrate yesterday after dam- aging his Renault in opening practice and then encountering further problems during the day’s second running.
Palmer first broke his front wing in the closing moments of the 90-minute session when he ran off the circuit and over the kerbs at Turn Four. He returned to the circuit in the afternoon, but lost control of his Renault on the exit of the final corner and thudded backwards into the barriers, leaving Palmer a lonely walk back to the Renault garage to explain his latest error.