formula 1
Rain makes last training in Hungary difficult
Sebastian Vettel during the last training session in Budapest. photo
© Darko Bandic/AP/dpa
Heavy rain has made a normal last practice session before the Formula 1 race in Hungary impossible.
Heavy rain has made a normal last practice session before the Formula 1 race in Hungary impossible.
Surprisingly, the Canadian Nicholas Latifi set the fastest time on Saturday in 1:41.480 minutes on the wet track and landed in his Williams 0.661 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, second in the World Championship. Latifi’s teammate Alexander Albon came in third, pushing world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull into fourth.
Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel came in ninth. In his Aston Martin, the 35-year-old, who is retiring after the season, was already 2.698 seconds behind Monegasque Leclerc. Shortly before the end of the practice session, Vettel made a driving mistake and slid off the track into the gravel bed. He lightly touched the tire stacks. “Fuck! Sorry!” the Hessian radioed to his team. His car had to be recovered with a crane. Mick Schumacher was twelfth in the Haas racing car.
The conditions in the third free practice session were completely different from the day before. The summer heat with temperatures of up to 34 degrees on Friday had disappeared, instead it was almost 15 degrees cooler. Shortly before the unit, it had rained heavily outside of Budapest, the water was still partly on the track and the pilots had to slowly get used to the new conditions.
Rain is also expected in qualifying on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. / Sky), in the race on Sunday it should be a little warmer and, above all, dry.