Sebastian Vettel boosted Scuderia Ferrari‘s morale following a difficult week by topping the time sheets on Friday’s running for the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Vettel had trailed Daniel Ricciardo during Free Practice One but the German’s lap-time of 1:16.834 in the afternoon’s session saw him head the field, less than one tenth-of-a-second ahead of Max Verstappen.
“I was pretty happy in the afternoon”, said Vettel, “more than in the morning session, as I think the car is performing well also over one lap. We can still improve, but this has been one of the best Fridays so far, technically speaking.”
Ferrari endured a tough run-up to this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix with the death of former CEO Sergio Marchionne announced on Wednesday. Vettel suggests that a successful weekend will be a start to the healing process, pointing to qualifying as crucial to the team’s potential race success.
“Having a great amount of work ahead of us is probably the best thing for keeping our mind busy and getting through the weekend. It’s not easy, but I focused on the job to do.
“On this track, the qualifying session and the start are very important and can make the difference because overtaking is very difficult. Getting ahead after the first couple of corners is crucial, but there’s a lot of work to do before getting to that point”.
