Hamilton and Bottas dominate opening F1 practice in Budapest

For the 5th year in a row Lewis Hamilton cannot be beaten because his car is so superior

Lewis Hamilton finished on top in first practice for the Hungarian GP, with an impressive time that is faster than any of the practice sessions last year. He was using the hard compound tire too, in what could be an ominous warning to his rivals.

Bottas was second, 0.086s back from his teammate but on the slightly quicker medium compound tire. Then came Perez in the Racing Point pink Mercedes, half a second back on the soft tire. Will we see representative times from those three later on using the same compound?

Both Ferrari drivers were over 1-second back and remain out to lunch.

“Every weekend is an opportunity but we always have to be realistic," said Verstappen. "When you are that dominant, like Mercedes, I think they will be quick on every track.

“I always give it my very best but you have to be realistic, it will be hard to beat them, let’s see how close we’re going to be, maybe the weather is always going to play a part, it can create chaos, we’ll find out, but on pure pace I think it will be very hard to beat them.

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