No sweat as Hamilton sets pace in Hungary
BUDAPEST: A heavily perspiring Lewis Hamilton declared himself to be well on the mend Friday after his best lap in morning practice proved to be the quickest of the day ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Heavy afternoon rain curtailed the second session after Pierre Gasly topped the times ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in the opening half hour.
Hamilton was third, onetenth off Gasly's pace, ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton's morning lap in one minute and 17.233 seconds was six-tenths quicker than Gasly's later in the day when a slippery track and wet conditions prevailed and Alex Albon crashed his Toro Rosso to cause a redflagged stoppage for five minutes.
"I was feeling a million times better getting back in the car this morning, and even this afternoon," said Hamilton, whose German Grand Prix last weekend saw him after suffering from a sore throat.
"I'm still sweating a lot so I'm obviously still sweating out whatever bug that I had, but that's a good thing."
Hamilton, who leads the title race by 41 points, pending the outcome of an appeal by Alfa Romeo against their penalties at Hockenheim, added that he did not see much point in running in the wet conditions.
"This afternoon, we got a slight run on the harder tyre," he said. "I got a couple of laps and that was about it.
"There's really not much point going out in the wet. Nowadays, if you know Sunday is going to be wet, and Saturday is going to be wet, and it will be a completely wet weekend, you can make subtle changes to help with the wet balance." - AFP