Hamilton
fastest in hot Hungarian practice
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[July 25, 2014]
By Alan Baldwin
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton
started his Hungarian Grand Prix weekend as he meant to continue, with
the fastest lap in Friday's first free practice and championship-leading
Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg behind him.
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The winner of the last two Hungarian Grands Prix lapped the
Hungaroring circuit outside Budapest with a best time of one minute
25.814 seconds.
Rosberg was second fastest, 0.183 slower than the 2008 champion, on
a hot morning with track temperatures rising to around 48 degrees
Celsius.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso were the closest to the
dominant duo, who have won nine out of 10 races so far between them,
with third and fourth places respectively on the timesheets.
Red Bull's quadruple champion Sebastian Vettel, who has never won in
Hungary, was fifth fastest ahead of Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen
for McLaren.
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Hamilton is 14 points adrift of Rosberg, despite having won five
races to the German's four, but has a far better record in Hungary.
The Briton has won four times there in total, a record he shares
with Germany's now retired Michael Schumacher, whereas Rosberg has
yet to stand on the Hungaroring podium.
Raikkonen also has a great record at the track, which counts almost
as a home race for Finnish drivers, with victory for McLaren in 2005
and second place in the last two years with Lotus.
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The Finn needs a good result this weekend after being eclipsed by
Alonso so far this season. Raikkonen is the only driver on the grid
who has yet to beat his team mate this year.
The session opened with Max Chilton's Marussia on fire in the pits,
with the flames quickly extinguished, after oil leaked onto the
exhaust.
(Editing by John O'Brien)
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