Budapest-Lewis Hamilton continued his midseason surge of form on Friday when he topped the times ahead of his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in opening free practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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The stewards announced they were investigating more than three hours after the rain-hit session ended, making it possible Rosberg could be penalised and lose pole position.
“For me, no question I had to lift because Fernando was on the track, while for Nico, Fernando had cleared, but there were still flags, so it was just a different scenario”.
“But I’m not sure that’s the safest approach”.
As Hamilton crawled back to the pits, Rosberg, a few corners further back, completed his effort as Alonso recovered.
Such was the disorder on the track and the ensuing uncertainty, the Red Bull duo and others could have faced demotion or even exclusion from the race for not setting times within 107 percent of the fastest lap in Q1.
“I felt good on my final lap and was four tenths up”, he said.
“I’m feeling great out there and the vehicle is very quick, so it was a good start to the weekend”.
Jolyon Palmer qualified 17th in a session delayed for 20 minutes by the rain and punctuated by smashes by Felipe Massa, Marcus Ericsson and Rio Haryanto.
Daniel Ricciardo was third for Red Bull ahead of team mate Max Verstappen on a weekend when the former champions hope to challenge Mercedes for the win.
Lewis Hamilton believes he was denied a certain pole position for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix after the bad luck which blighted the early part of his season returned in dramatic fashion on Saturday.
Rosberg lifted when he saw the yellows, but only lost a minimal amount of time. “I was also slower than on my previous lap in that yellow sector.so I’m sure it will be OK”.
Hamilton knows that a victory here, which would be a record-breaking fifth at the Hungaroring, will see him lead the championship for the first time this season.
Hamilton subsequently missed the majority of the 90-minute session as Rosberg soared to the top of the timesheets.
“Obviously not the greatest session for me”, Hamilton said.
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Fernando Alonso continued McLaren’s strong performance here with seventh fastest time of 1m 21.584s to head Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, who was using the only new floor the team had been able to get ready in time; the Finn lapped in 1m 21.649s for eighth.
