Verstappen could shine as super six emerge

Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying
Sky Sports F1, 1pm Saturday

The one-lap Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying shootout promises to be one of the best Saturday sessions of the season after the top three teams were closely matched in Friday’s practice sessions.

The top six cars were separated by less than half a second in practice two, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo topping the times in both sessions as the Anglo-Austrian outfit made a step forward at a track that suits their car.

The Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are carrying what team boss Christian Horner described as “significant upgrades” this weekend and the latest changes appeared to have had the desired effect.

Ricciardo drives the confined track well, having won the race there in 2014 and been third for the past two seasons.

It looks to be a more open battle for pole than we are accustomed to, but bookmakers are probably wise to separate the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton from the pack and they make him 10-11 favourite for qualifying.

Hamilton was 0.324 seconds behind Ricciardo in second practice, but his time was achieved on the slower soft compound tyres, while the rest of the top six were on supersofts.

Ferrari should be more suited to this track than they were to the sweeping curves of Silverstone, and they were second in both sessions, with Kimi Raikkonen the closest challenger to Ricciardo in the morning and Sebastian Vettel in the afternoon.

At the prices, the best value qualifying bet might be an each-way interest on the second Red Bull of Verstappen.

After early problems, the young Dutchman had got his set-up sorted near the end of the afternoon session but said he never got a clean lap in on the fastest rubber.

He could easily be in the mix for pole at a track where he was fourth for minnows Toro Rosso in 2015 and fifth for Red Bull last year. Bet365 offer three each-way places.

Verstappen has qualified fourth or fifth at the last six races but has a strong chance of going better than that in Budapest.

Practice day was disrupted by a number of crashes, the heaviest suffered by Pascal Wehrlein of Sauber, while Renault’s under-pressure British driver Jolyon Palmer did his career prospects little good by having incidents in both sessions.

Hamilton is 6-5 favourite to win the race as he bids to score back-to-back successes for the first time this season.

Betway are betting on the next grand prix that the Briton does not win, going 5-6 Hungary, 5-2 Belgium, 7-1 Italy, 14-1 Singapore and 33-1 Malaysia.

Hamilton is 4-7 to win the drivers’ championship, with Vettel, who has gone four races without a win, a 2-1 chance.

McLaren made the expected improvement at a track that masks their defects, with both cars in the top ten.

Recommendation
M Verstappen fastest qualifier
1pt each-way 8-1 bet365

Track facts

Venue Hungaroring, near Budapest
Number of laps 70
Lap length 4.381km
Lap record 1.19.071 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 2004
Schedule – practice three 10am Saturday; qualifying 1pm Saturday; race 1pm Sunday.
TV All live on Sky Sports F1

Circuit characteristicsHungaroring is a tight and twisty circuit with the lowest average speed save for Monaco. There are some undulations and the race usually takes place in scorching temperatures. Overtaking is difficult, but not impossible

DRS zones Before turns one and two

Tyre allocation Medium (white), soft (yellow) and supersoft (red)

Last five years (grid) L Hamilton (2), S Vettel (3), D Ricciardo (4), L Hamilton (1), L Hamilton (1)

Last year Lewis Hamilton’s fifth win at the circuit gave him the championship lead ahead of his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who had started from pole position

2016 pole N Rosberg, 1.19.965

2016 fastest lap K Raikkonen, 1.23.086 on lap 52

2016 classified finishers 21/22

Reason for retirement Mechanical

Weather Hot and sunny. 26C on Saturday rising to a high of 31C on Sunday.