Lewis Hamilton quickest in 1st practice at Hungarian GP; Sergio Perez unhurt

Sergio Perez had a miraculous escape after his Force India turned upside down in a freak high speed crash in first practice Friday.

Meanwhile, Fabio Leimer made his mark by nearly out-performing Manor team-mate Will Stevens on his first outing in the auto, the Swiss driver ahead for much of the session before the Englishman surpassed him late on.

Perez emerged from the fast turn 11 right-hander and travelled over the rumble strip on the outside of the corner when his right-rear wheel appeared to pitch inside and point the wrong way.

“But everything’s alright. It was a odd accident”. I thought it was under control but the AstroTurf was very dirty which is why I went in the wall. “We’ll have to check everything in detail”.

With 30 minutes remaining of the session, Perez ran across the artificial grass on the exit of Turn 11 and was pitched into the opposite wall. The 2015 season resumes with the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend and every track session is live on Sky Sports F1.

Raikkonen’s session was then brought to a premature end however, after he suffered a front left tyre puncture which caused bits of his Ferrari front wing to scatter the track.

Practice was suspended while marshals swept up the debris as the vehicle was carted off on the back of a lorry. The Finn finished ahead of Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, whilst Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel slotted into P6.

The accident comes a week after Bianchi died after failing to recover from the serious brain injury he suffered at a rain-affected Japanese Grand Prix on October 5 last year when his Marussia auto crashed into a recovery vehicle.

Jenson Button has lauded the “band of brothers” mentality displayed by his Formula One peers in the wake of Jules Bianchi’s death.