Jul 12
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The happiest driver of all undoubtedly had to be McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
Looking to break out of a three-race slump, the 2008 World Champion led the way around the famed Hungary circuit with a lap of 1:22:821 in his recently upgraded McLaren.
Teammate Jenson Button, fresh off a second-place finish last weekend in Germany, clocked in second at 1:22:922.
German GP winner and points leader Fernando Alonso was third in his red Ferrari, followed by Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.
The rest of the top 10 consisted of Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Williams reserve Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel checked in only 13th and 15th quickest, respectively.
Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix is the 11th of 20 events on the 2012 Formula One calendar, and the last event before the annual month-long August break.
Coming into the weekend, Alonso leads the drivers’ standings by 34 points over Webber and 44 over Vettel. Raikkonen (-56) and Hamilton (-62) complete the top five.
Alonso leads the series in victories with three, while Webber, with two victories, is the season’s only other winner of multiple races.
SPEED coverage of Formula One in Hungary kicks off at 8 a.m. ET today with a live broadcast of Free Practice Two.
Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.
For the first time in three events, Formula One drivers enjoyed a rain-free opening practice on Friday at the Hungaroring.
Articles are gathered and rebroadcast from public feeds: source: http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-lewis-hamilton-leads-mclaren-1-2-in-first-hungary-practice/
