Sebastian Vettel makes positive start in Hungary Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas struggle

Vettel is bidding to bounce back from his nightmare race in Germany after he crashed out from the lead to hand the championship advantage back to Hamilton

The German slipped in the fastest time by 0.014s (Getty Images)

Sat in fifth and sixth respectively at the end of today’s first practice sessions, behind the Ferraris and Red Bulls, it looks as though Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were right not to consider themselves favourites for Sunday’s Hungarian GP.

But, as ever in F1, all was not quite as clear as it appeared on the surface.

Earlier in the faster, afternoon session, Hamilton had led Bottas in a Mercedes 1-2 when they were running the soft-compound tyres, until Max Verstappen on similar rubber beat the world champion’s time by 0.078s. Say what you like about F1 these days, the lap times are close.

The story changed when everyone switched to the faster but less durable ultrasoft tyres. On them both Hamilton and Bottas struggled, especially with rear-end grip. Verstappen and his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo still looked threatening, but Sebastian Vettel, who had seemed to struggle on the softs (or was perhaps just sandbagging earlier as has been Ferrari’s habit on a Friday) slipped in the fastest time by 0.014s.

“It’s been a relatively normal day,” Hamilton said. “As we expected, the Ferraris and Red Bulls were quite quick and had a little bit more pace than us, so we’ve got some work to do tonight.

“This is a tricky circuit and the tyres are overheating. Looking after the rears is the biggest issue. The temperature today and the layout of the track – corner after corner after corner – made it really tricky for the tyres as there’s no time for them to cool down.

“We will do our debrief now and try to dig deep to try and figure out what changes to make between now and tomorrow. I hope we are able to find something tonight and that tomorrow is dry so we can test whatever changes we make overnight.”

Ferrari have brought their Spec 3 engine to Hungaroring, but have given it only to their client teams, Haas and Sauber. Vettel and partner Kimi Raikkonen will use it from Spa onwards, at the end of August. The Hungaroring is more about downforce than sheer power, so it made sense to let the smaller teams run the first risks with the new unit.

Lewis Hamilton in action during Friday’s afternoon practice session (Getty Images)

Worryingly for Mercedes and Renault (Red Bull), it is said to have a significant upgrade of 40 bhp.

Ricciardo had other engine issues to consider, but was upbeat. Having taken the penalties for replacing his power unit from Austria for Renault’s latest Spec B offering in Germany, in readiness for the Hungaroring to which his Red Bull is much better suited, the Australian suffered a triple whammy; first there were the penalties that dropped him to the back of the grid in Hockenheim; then there was the failure of the new engine there; and now he has had to revert to his previous, less potent, Spec A engine here.

“Mercedes will find more on one lap [in qualifying], Ferrari already seem fast,” he said. “Over one lap we didn’t execute it perfectly, so I’m confident there’s a few tenths in the package. I think even with a good race car, the first row is the one I want to qualify on, no doubt. The second row wouldn’t be a disaster, but we definitely don’t want to be as far back as the third row.”

As French rising star Esteban Ocon placed his Force India 10th, his team were fighting off track back in London, where it was revealed that they are facing a winding-up petition which will be heard on Wednesday, in pursuit of unpaid debts.

It is anticipated that this will trigger the team’s slide into administration (which offers struggling businesses protection against bankruptcy while administrators seek a rescue deal). The suggestion in the paddock here is that this may be a very specific pre-pack administration process which means that the sale of the company and their assets has been pre-agreed and will go ahead once it goes into administration.

Several parties, including Indycar champion and team owner Michael Andretti, son of the 1978 world champion Mario Andretti, are believed to have serious interest in buying the small team. They regularly punch well above their weight, and last year finished an impressive fourth in the world championship for constructors, but have suffered significantly from the myriad legal troubles currently facing beleaguered owner Vijay Mallya.