Hamilton leads McLaren 1-2

Lewis Hamilton managed the quickest lap in Friday afternoon's practice session ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Rookie Alguersuari slowest on F1 track debut

Lewis Hamilton led a McLaren 1-2 during Friday afternoon's practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, suggesting a return to form for the team ahead of Sunday's race. The British driver finished with a best lap time of one minute 22.079 seconds, just 0.047secs ahead of team-mate and last year's winner, Heikki Kovalainen. McLaren have worked hard to improve the performance of both cars in recent weeks in the hope of a long-overdue victory in the 2009 campaign. Kovalainen was quickest in the morning session and led the way for the majority of the afternoon at the Hungaroring before Hamilton pipped the Finn on his final hot lap. Despite McLaren's turn of pace, Hamilton preferred to play down expectations when asked about his prospects for Saturday's qualifying sessions, saying: "The front row would be beautiful but, to be honest, I'm just aiming to get into Q3. "The car is much more competitive - we've come from 2.5s off but we're still about four to five tenths off the leaders, so we've got to keep working to make that up before we can start thinking about winning."

Tight session

Nico Rosberg was third in his Williams just 0.075secs back during a tight session - only 1.097secs separated the top 19 drivers. Mark Webber was fourth with team-mate Sebastian Vettel not far behind in sixth. Kazuki Nakajima was sandwiched in between the two Red Bulls in the second Williams. Rubens Barrichello was seventh for Brawn GP ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli and BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfield. The other Toyota of Timo Glock rounded out the top 10. Meanwhile, hoping to improve after disappointing outings in Britain and Germany, championship leader Jenson Button could only manage 13th place in the afternoon having been three places higher up the order in the morning. He was nevertheless upbeat after practice, saying: "It's been a much better Friday for us than at the last couple of races. Obviously the temperatures are higher here which works in our favour and we have some good aerodynamic updates to the car for this race. "We achieved a lot of important work today with the tyres and whilst we have some way to go to get them working at their optimum, it's a good start to the weekend." However, most eyes were focused on the fortunes of one man - teenage debutant Jaime Alguersuari. The rookie ended up 20th, and last, in his Toro Rosso ahead of his debut GP on Sunday. He will become the youngest driver to compete in Formula One at the age of 19 years 126 days on Sunday. Owing to an in-season circuit testing ban, Alguersuari had only driven the car in straight line testing prior to Friday and he struggled early on. He eventually got to grips with the track though, managing a best time of 1:23.942s during his 82 laps. The decision by Toro Rosso to promote Alguersuari has been criticised by some who feel he is too young and inexperienced to be competing at the top level. However, team boss Franz Tost had firmly stood by his new driver.

Difficult question

"I hear some people say he is not experienced enough," he said. "It is always a difficult question to answer about when is a driver experienced enough to come into F1. "I can only say Jaime has so far done 118 races, won 17 and been on the podium 46 times. "He won last year's British Formula 3 championship, and this year in the World Series (by Renault) has been improving his performance race by race. "I think he has a good background, and he is experienced enough to do a good job." Hungarian Grand Prix, Friday practice, session two: 1 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:22.079 36 laps
2 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:22.126 36 laps
3 N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.154 47 laps
4 M. Webber Red Bull 1:22.369 29 laps
5 K. Nakajima Williams 1:22.426 40 laps
6 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:22.550 30 laps
7 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:22.641 38 laps
8 J. Trulli Toyota 1:22.663 28 laps
9 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.690 43 laps
10 T. Glock Toyota 1:22.751 45 laps
11 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:22.763 38 laps
12 F. Alonso Renault 1:22.739 37 laps
13 J. Button Brawn GP 1:22.806 42 laps
14 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.870 36 laps
15 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:22.927 36 laps
16 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:22.978 28 laps
17 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:23.029 39 laps
18 F. Massa Ferrari 1:23.156 32 laps
19 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.176 45 laps
20 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.942 40 laps Session one: 1 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:22.278 21 laps
2 N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.337 27 laps
3 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:22.554 20 laps
4 M. Webber Red Bull 1:22.615 21 laps
5 K. Nakajima Williams 1:22.619 25 laps
6 J. Trulli Toyota 1:22.705 17 laps
7 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:22.796 23 laps
8 F. Massa Ferrari 1:22.855 25 laps
9 F. Alonso Renault 1:23.001 28 laps
10 J. Button Brawn GP 1:23.130 25 laps
11 R. Kubica BMW 1:23.146 24 laps
12 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:23.154 23 laps
13 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:23.209 24 laps
14 T. Glock Toyota 1:23.234 30 laps
15 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:23.283 25 laps
16 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:23.484 20 laps
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:23.678 22 laps
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:23.845 18 laps
19 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.998 37 laps
20 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.228 42 laps