Giuliano Alesi heads quiet F2 practice at damp Hungaroring

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Giuliano Alesi set the best time in a very quiet Formula 2 practice session in damp conditions at the Hungaroring, with only nine of the 22 drivers recording a timed lap.

Rain began to fall as drivers ventured out on slick tyres at the start of the 45-minute session, causing Marino Sato to spin at the first corner out of the pits and continue, before Dan Ticktum rotated at the penultimate corner and was unable to restart.

While conditions did not get particularly bad, the majority of teams and drivers were reluctant to head out on track. Rain is a possibility throughout the rest of the weekend, but each driver only has two sets of wet-weather tyres available.

Alesi and his HWA team-mate Artem Markelov were two of the busier drivers, the Frenchman setting the best time of 1m45.926s.

Jack Aitken got closest to Alesi’s time with a late effort for Campos Racing before making an error at the chicane on his final lap, 1.174s adrift.

Sato was third ahead of Markelov with Louis Deletraz in fifth the last driver within two seconds of the Alesi time.

Guilherme Samaia, Roy Nissany and Felipe Drugovich were next, with Nobuharu Matsushita the final driver to record a time. Several others completed multiple out-and-in laps, including Prema’s Robert Shwartzman who ventured out late in the session on slicks.

Qualifying results