Lewis Hamilton continues to the lead the way following his Nurburgring victory last weekend as he posted the quickest time in first free practice at the Hungaroring.
Nico Hulkenberg, driving Adrian Sutil's Force India for the session was the early pacesetter, before Sebastien Buemi moved ahead for Toro Rosso.
Jenson Button was the first of the big names to post a quick time, going top on the half hour mark. McLaren teammate Hamilton then took first place a few minutes later, though he wouldn't stay there for long. Fernando Alonso soon claimed top spot for Ferrari, and later improved his time to stay on top until Sebastian Vettel took his turn at the head of the time sheets for Red Bull.
Hamilton returned to the top with around 20 minutes of the session remaining, just as Mark Webber had an off in his Red Bull. The Australian ran wide over the kerb on the exit of Turn 9, sending his car back across the track and nosing into the barrier, taking off his front wing in the process. He was able to return to the pits, but the incident brought an early end to his session.
Hamilton's effort was to go unbeaten, the Briton ending the session 0.214 seconds ahead of Vettel. Alonso was third, just under three tenths shy of Hamilton, with Webber ending up fourth after his off.
Button was fifth fastest, ahead of Felipe Massa and the two Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. Sergio Perez was a strong ninth for Sauber, with Vitaly Petrov completing the top ten in his Renault.
Bruno Senna was 15th in his first Friday appearance for Renault. Jarno Trulli returned to the cockpit at Lotus after surrendering his seat to Karun Chandhok in Germany, and was 20th, four seconds off the pace and half a second behind teammate Heikki Kovalainen.
