2010 Hungarian Grand Prix

Previous race

At Hockenheim, Alonso won after a coded message from Ferrari’s pit wall — widely interpreted as a team order — directed Massa to let his teammate through. Massa had led most of the race. Ferrari were fined US$100,000 for using team orders to deliberately alter the outcome of a race. The FIA World Motor Sport Council has been convened to consider further sanctions, including a charge of bringing the sport into disrepute. The hearing is scheduled to take place in September.

Entrants

Sakon Yamamoto continues alongside Bruno Senna at Hispania Racing, having replaced Karun Chandhok from the German Grand Prix onwards. Derek Warwick serves as the drivers’ representative on the stewards’ panel, his second appearance in this role after Spain.

Practice

Red Bull dominated the first session, with Vettel and Webber both setting lap times over a second faster than anyone else; Kubica’s Renault was the closest challenger. Massa was the first driver to take to the circuit, and was observed to take the stretch between turns three and four — the scene of his 2009 head injury — carefully on his first laps. Ferrari were noticeably off the pace with Alonso seventh and Massa ninth. Hamilton was troubled by an undisclosed technical problem and frustrations with his car’s balance, ending eighteenth. Petrov lost control at the final corner and spun across the entrance to the front straight, but returned to the pits. Force India ran test driver Paul di Resta in place of Liuzzi and were fined €5,000 for a tyre mix-up when di Resta used tyres from Liuzzi’s Saturday allocation.

In the second session, Vettel led again with Alonso half a second back, Webber third, and Massa fourth. Petrov placed fifth overall, a tenth quicker than teammate Kubica. Hamilton recovered from his morning problems to finish sixth. Kovalainen sat out most of the session with recurrent hydraulics issues. Alonso tore a chunk from a kerb late in the session.