Hungaroring mid-season test: Giovinazzi quickest

Published on 31 July 2018 by Stefan Meens

Antonio Giovinazz set the fastest time on the first of two days of Formula 1 testing at the Hungaroring. The Italian, last Friday driving for Sauber in the Hungarian Grand Prix first practice session, tested for Ferrari. Seeing the youngster driving for the Scuderia was prompted by a testing regulations; of the four in-season testing days, teams have to run rookies at two of them.

Giovinazzi clocked a new lap record (1:15.646), bettering Sebastian Vettel’s time set during the Grand Prix weekend. However, the rookie’s effort was completed on the Pirelli hyper-softs as opposed to Vettel’s lap on ultra-softs.

The other teams primarily focused on long-runs, meaning the lap times of their drivers came nowhere near the Ferrari. The most productive driver of the day was Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Brendan Hartley. The Kiwi clocked 126 lap. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing enjoyed plenty of track time too. Max Verstappen’s team mate completed the Hungaroring 122 times.

Lando Norris made his wet weather debut in a Formula 1 car when heavy rain hit the track in the final hour of testing. The British youngster drove a McLaren.

Sean Geleal, recruited for a Pirelli tyre test and driving a Toro Rosso, was credited for causing the sole red flag of the day after crashing into the barriers.

In other news, Force India and Williams were the first team to trial the wider, simplified 2019 spec front wings.

Mid-season test - Hungaroring - Day 1 Results

Pos.	Driver           	Team    	Laps	Time    	     
1	Antonio Giovinazzi	Ferrari   	96	1:15.648	 
2	Marcus Ericsson 	Sauber   	95	1:18.115	2.507
3	Brendon Hartley 	Toro Rosso	126	1:19.251	3.603
4	Lando Norris    	McLaren	 	107	1:19.294	3.646
5	George Russell  	Mercedes	49	1:19.781	4.113
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	125	1:19.854	4.206
7	Nicholas Latifi 	Force India	103	1:19.994	4.346
8	Nico Hulkenberg 	Renault 	63	1:20.826	5.178
9	Oliver Rowland  	Williams 	65	1:20.970	5.322
10	Sean Gelael     	Toro Rosso	109	1:21.451	5.803