Ricciardo stays ahead in second session at Hungary

F1 Grand Prix, GP Hungary, Hungaroring

Daniel Ricciardo continued to set the pace in the second practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. The Australian Red Bull driver already topped the times in FP1, and this time proved faster than Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari SF70-H.

While Sebastian Vettel appeared to have found a better set-up for his Ferrari that the unbalanced setting it was in during FP1, Valtteri Bottas edged closer to the pace setter as well.

Kimi Raikkonen put the second Ferrari in 4th, a tiny bit faster than F1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen in 6th was still less than half a second down on Ricciardo's pace.

Behind the top three teams however, a increasing gap emerged, with 7th fastest Hulkenberg 1.259s slower than Ricciardo, and therefore 7 tenths behind Verstappen. The German topped McLaren's Fernando Alonso in a tight midfield pack. Carlos Sainz was 9th and Vandoorne made sure both McLaren Honda cars remained in the top 10. The latter was however told to return his car slowly to the pits at the end of the session, in light of a suspected mechanical issue.

The session was stopped twice yet again. Pascal Wehrlein was the first to cause a stoppage by crashing his Sauber C36 heavily into the barriers at Turn 11. The car itself was badly damaged while the German escape unscathed.

Just 10 minutes later, Jolyon Palmer crashed in the final corner, adding to his earlier off in FP1.