Daniel Ricciardo hopes for pole fight after topping Friday sessions

Daniel Ricciardo has reminded Formula One’s title contenders that Red Bull remain a force to reckon with after lapping fastest in crash-interrupted practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

At a sun-bathed Hungaroring, Ricciardo reeled off a best lap in one minute and 18.455 seconds to outstrip nearest rival and championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari by almost two-tenths of a second.

Ricciardo finished the session two tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen with a lap of 1:18.486. I would like to see Budapest, how the auto works with a low [er] speed and high-track-temperatures track.

“In qualifying Mercedes will of course turn up the power so I think we still need to find a bit of pace to really fight them, but it’s all looking a lot better than previous races”. “Yeah, I think we can do it”.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, a point behind Vettel in the standings and chasing a record sixth Hungarian victory on Sunday, made it three teams in the top three with a lap 0.372 off Ricciardo’s pace. “I was still not very comfortable with the vehicle, and then actually on the supersofts it was all coming together”.

“We started to sort out the balance a bit better, and we changed quite a lot of things on the vehicle”, he continued.

Ricciardo, a victor in Budapest three years ago, went from strength to strength, flying once again in what was a more encouraging FP2 for Vettel.

Bottas ended the session fourth quickest, ahead of Max Verstappen, with McLaren getting both cars into the top 10 as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne finished seventh and eighth respectively.

But, for Jolyon Palmer, there was yet more on-track drama in the final minute of the session.

Palmer has yet to score a point this season, and his Renault seat is reportedly coming under threat as Polish driver Robert Kubica continues his F1 comeback bid.

The German clouted the barrier with the front-right and then ricocheted into an adjacent barrier, damaging the left-hand side of the auto.

The session had earlier been halted when Antonio Giovinazzi, deputising at Haas for Kevin Magnussen, lost control of his auto at Turn 9 and hit the barriers.

But problems arose for most of the grid when Pascal Wehrlein’s tumultuous season continued as he lost his Sauber into the barriers.