Hungarian Practice One: Solid start for Williams

The opening Friday practice for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix would get underway with the drivers coming out on their installation laps, including both Williams drivers. Only a handful of drivers had yet to take to the track but
slowly they would come out. Nico was out of his car and up on the pit lane wall taking to his engineers. The only driver yet to come out was Glock. Newcomer Alguersuari was first to come back out with ten minutes of the session complete. Also on the track was Barrichello, who would pit. Alguersuari would set the first time with a 1m:34.716 in his Torro Rosso, which was running various updates. Bridgestone were supplying the soft and super soft tyres for this weekend.

Alguersuari would improve with a 1m:31.457. Buemi was next out as Alguersuari improved again with a 1m:29.313. Kazuki was in the Williams garage looking very relaxed. Kovalainen was also out on the track joined by Glock. A 1m:29.240 from Alguersuari as he continued to put in the laps looking to gain experience. But Buemi would go faster with a 1m:28.550. Kovalainen would pit but team-mate Hamilton was out on the track. Glock would pit as Buemi and Alguersuari improved with a 1m:26.727 and 1m:27.953 respectively. Button was out on the track. Hamilton would pit as Buemi went faster with a 1m:25.894. Alguersuari cut several tenths off his time with a 1m:27.108. Alguersuari would go fastest with a 1m:25.820 as Button pitted. Alguersuari would continue to improve with a 1m:25.585 as Buemi went fastest with a 1m:25.034. Buemi would pit while Alguersuari improved with a 1m:25.422.

With just over an hour remaining only two times had been set but drivers would start to come out including Heidfeld, Trulli, and Glock. Alguersuari would pit followed by Heidfeld, leaving just the Toyota's out on the track. Trulli was third with a 1m:27.488m, while Glock moved into fourth, 1m:28.426. Raikkonen was next out while both Toyota's would improve. Trulli set a 1m:26.044 and Glock a 1m:26.478. Trulli was now fastest with a 1m:24.983 as Massa took to the track. Glock set a 1m:26.189. Raikkonen was now fifth, 1m:28.349. Trulli had improved with a 1m:24.057. Buemi was back out as Glock moved up to third, 1m:25.209. Alonso and Nico were both out on the track with fifty four minutes left in the session.

Glock was now second as Massa moved into fourth. Alguersuari was back out on the track as more drivers took to the track. Vettel was out joining Piquet and Fisichella. Trulli would pit while Nico moved into sixth with a 1m:25.407. Alonso was now second, 1m:24.861. Glock had pitted as Massa moved into second, 1m:24.399. Nico was third but would drop down to fourth as Massa moved into third. Kazuki was now out on the track with fifty minutes remaining. Nico's time was a 1m:24.511. Massa was now fastest with a 1m:23.735 so the order was Massa from Trulli, Alonso, Vettel, Nico, Glock, Buemi, Raikkonen, Alguersuari, and Piquet.

The track was now very busy as Alonso moved into second with a 1m:23.958. Kazuki was down in fourteenth with a 1m:30.995. Kubica was now fourth, 1m:24.338, as Nico moved into second, 1m:23.810. Kazuki had i9mproved to be ninth, 1m:24.985. Vettel was now fastest with a 1m:23.713 as Nico went fastest in sector two. Nico would move to the top of the times with a 1m:23.268. Alonso was now second followed by Vettel, Webber, Massa, Kovalainen, Kazuki, Kubica, Trulli, and Buemi in tenth. Kazuki would improve to be in second, 1m:23.507. But Hamilton would move past the Williams and into second with a 1m:23.396. It was now Kubica's turn to go fastest with a 1m:23.219. But the BMW was quickly beaten by Webber with a 1m:22.615. Nico would pit from third while Kazuki was now in fifth.

Barrichello was up to sixth as Hamilton moved into second with a 1m:22.838. Kazuki would pit leaving Glock, Heidfeld and Alguersuari out on the track. Thirty five minutes left in the session as Glock improved to be ninth, 1m:23.598. Raikkonen was back out looking to improve from his slowest time of 1m:25.067. Alguersuari would stop in the pit lane seeing his mechanics rush up to push him back to his pit. Raikkonen was now thirteenth as Button and Massa came back out. Nico would return to the track with just under thirty minutes left. Raikkonen was now seventh, 1m:23.531. Webber would return to the track along with Kubica. Massa would have a moment at one of the chicanes taking to the grass but was able to continue. Kazuki would join Nico out on the track. There were now only a few drivers left in the pit lane as Nico moved up to third, 1m:23.191.

Sir Frank Williams was at the track watching his cars and giving a bit of a shrug. Kazuki was now in ninth as other drivers improved. Raikkonen was now in fourth followed by Kubica, Alonso, Button, and Massa. Webber was fastest with a 1m:22.615 as Alonso moved into third, 1m:23.073. Massa was now in fourth seeing Nico drop to fifth, 1m:23.191. Kazuki was now in fourth lowering his time to a 1m:23.170. Nico was now sixth but would improve with a 1m:23.153 to be just a head of Kazuki. Vettel would be complaining of poor grip from his tyres. Kazuki would take fourth back from Nico with a 1m:23.121. Webber, Hamilton, and Alonso, the top three had pitted. Alguersuari was now second slowest just ahead of Sutil. Nico would pit followed by Kazuki.

With fifteen minutes left it was Webber from Hamilton, Alonso, Kazuki, Nico, Massa, Raikkonen, Kubica, Vettel, and Kovalainen in tenth. Trulli was still out on the track and would move up to second with a 1m:22.831. Team-mate Glock was now tenth, 1m:23.234. Webber had returned to the track joining Alonso. Ten minutes remaining and the track was getting busier. Nico was back out joined shortly after by Kazuki. Only the Toyota's and Force India cars were left in their pits. Raikkonen would improve to be sixth followed by Kubica. Hamilton was now fastest with a 1m:22.554. Raikkonen was now fifth seeing Kazuki sixth and Nico eighth behind Kubica. Now only Kubica was in the pits as the final few minutes counted down. Kazuki was now seventh and Nico ninth. Massa was now fifth as Raikkonen moved up to third, 1m:22.796.

Nico was now fastest with a 1m:22.337. Like most drivers Nico was still on the harder tyre. Hamilton would pit while Kazuki moved into fourth, 1m:22.619. Trulli was now fifth followed by Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Alonso, Massa, and Kubica in tenth. Nico would be fastest in sector two but would not improve his time as the session came to an end. Kazuki was still fourth. But in the final moments Kovalainen would go fastest with a 1m:22.278 as Nico pitted. So the order was Kovalainen from Nico, Hamilton, Webber, Kazuki, Trulli, Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso and Button in tenth.

A solid start to the weekend for the AT&T Williams team with Nico and Kazuki second and fifth. Nico would look quite relaxed in his garage as he took his helmet off. Both Williams drivers were able to stay well inside the top ten for the session.

Pos  Driver       Team			    Time      Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:22.278 21
 2.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:22.337 27
 3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:22.554 20
 4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:22.615 21
 5.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:22.619 25
 6.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:22.705 17
 7.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:22.796 23
 8.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:22.855 25
 9.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:23.001 28
10.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:23.130 25
11.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:23.146 24
12.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:23.154 23
13.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:23.209 24
14.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:23.234 30
15.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:23.283 25
16.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.484 20
17.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:23.678 22
18.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.845 18
19.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:23.998 37
20.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.228 42