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[McLaren Fan]

Sometimes I ask myself though. Why McLaren? Why cant they just go away. Williams, they are British, they are great or perhaps I should say were great. Why can't someone like Michael Schumacher go there and bring them back to their winning ways. Why can't Lewis Hamilton do his thing for Williams. That way if it were Ferrari Vs Williams and Williams won, then I wouldn't be so unhappy.

To be honest, Kiki, McLaren aren't really seen as a British team. Lotus were seen as a British team. Williams are seen as a British team. People in Britain know McLaren is meant to be British, but they don't overly see them as such. I'm not sure why and I don't really care anyway; I don't support McLaren because they are a British team.

[McLaren Fan]

How the f&c$ can Vettel be last? Wasn't he one of the quickest during Jerez testing last week? Just shows that what happens in testing is crap. Anyway it is nice to see Ferraris quickest so far. But I am not the type of person that has much faith in my team so I wont count on them staying like that. If they do and win or dominate I guess apart from being happy I can also be ashamed of myself.

I was surprised that Williams are slow again. Or am I? We always get the same line from them: "This circuit suits our car."

There is nothing wrong with criticising your team, Kiki, when they get things wrong. However, there is nothing wrong at Ferrari. Yeah, they've made a few mistakes recently, but so do all teams. So, you should be ashamed.

[AKR]

Sometimes I ask myself though. Why McLaren? Why cant they just go away. Williams, they are British, they are great or perhaps I should say were great. Why can't someone like Michael Schumacher go there and bring them back to their winning ways. Why can't Lewis Hamilton do his thing for Williams. That way if it were Ferrari Vs Williams and Williams won, then I wouldn't be so unhappy.

To be honest, Kiki, McLaren aren't really seen as a British team. Lotus were seen as a British team. Williams are seen as a British team. People in Britain know McLaren is meant to be British, but they don't overly see them as such. I'm not sure why and I don't really care anyway; I don't support McLaren because they are a British team.

A lot of Brits do however. I bet people like Hannah and Paula do just to name a few. You however Chris are a true McLaren Fan and are worthy of your forum name. You go for McLaren because you love the team for what they are, what they have achieved, their drivers notably Ayrton Senna and their (Not including 2008) fair policies. Bud and Anna(Racechick) you 2 are true McLaren supporters as well, with Anna being more of a Ayrton Senna fan of course.

[bud]

Im still stuck on McLaren being a Kiwi team

[AKR]

There is nothing wrong with criticising your team, Kiki, when they get things wrong. However, there is nothing wrong at Ferrari. Yeah, they've made a few mistakes recently, but so do all teams. So, you should be ashamed.

Your sarcasim put a smile on my face Chris, Thankyou.

By the way I did notice the Williams low as well. What is happening with them. Pre-season they showed a lot of promise. They seem to be going backwards now. This cannot be good. But I don't understand. They have a big budget so why the demise?

[McLaren Fan]

Well, second practice is just over. This time, McLaren look faster than Ferrari, with Hamilton coming top and Raikkonen fifth, being almost half a second of the pace. The Renaults looked pretty good, with Piquet coming second and Alonso forth. BMW still look stuck in their rut, having balance problems, so are looking very vulnerable to Renault and Toyota, and maybe even Red Bull if they get their act together. Williams looked slightly better than this morning but were still very disappointing. Also, for what it's worth, McLaren were using the "ears" today.

[McLaren Fan]

Here are the times from autosport.com:

Hamilton quickest in second practice

By Matt Beer Friday, August 1st 2008, 13:30 GMT

Lewis Hamilton emerged quickest at the end of Friday afternoon practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix, as McLaren got back on top following Ferrari's morning dominance.

For much of the session the McLaren had monopolised the leading positions, but they were split in the closing stages by Renault's Nelson Piquet, with his teammate Fernando Alonso taking fourth as both used the super-soft Bridgestones for their last runs.

Hamilton hit the front seven minutes into second practice, and for the majority of the subsequent action either the Briton or his teammate Heikki Kovalainen led the way, with the pair swapping the advantage several times while evaluating the new nose wings first seen in the recent Jerez test.

With six minutes remaining, Hamilton used the softer tyres to produce the 1:20.554 lap that would stand as the best of the session, with Kovalainen being edged down to third when Piquet leapt up the order shortly afterwards - although the Renault driver had a spin at Turn 1 immediately after setting his quick time.

Teammate Alonso took fourth with his second flying lap on soft tyres after a big brake lock-up into Turn 1 on his first attempt. He finished the afternoon ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, and the BMWs of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.

Jarno Trulli (Toyota) claimed ninth, with Nico Rosberg improving on Williams' poor morning times to secure 10th place. His teammate Kazuki Nakajima had the most dramatic incident of the session when he spun into the wall on his last flying lap, but the car only lightly nudged the barriers and was able to continue.

The only other action of note was a further piece of bad luck for Sebastian Vettel, whose Toro Rosso had expired with a hydraulic failure after just four laps in the morning. This time it managed only five laps before stopped in virtually the same place on the track.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:20.554 35
2. Piquet Renault (B) 1:20.748 + 0.194 38
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:20.760 + 0.206 33
4. Alonso Renault (B) 1:20.928 + 0.374 35
5. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:21.009 + 0.455 35
6. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:21.010 + 0.456 36
7. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:21.138 + 0.584 46
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:21.363 + 0.809 36
9. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:21.505 + 0.951 42
10. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:21.581 + 1.027 34
11. Glock Toyota (B) 1:21.662 + 1.108 39
12. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:21.733 + 1.179 43
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:21.837 + 1.283 34
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:21.902 + 1.348 33
15. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:21.955 + 1.401 41
16. Button Honda (B) 1:22.150 + 1.596 41
17. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:22.197 + 1.643 36
18. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:22.358 + 1.804 37
19. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:22.448 + 1.894 33
20. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:22.945 + 2.391 5

[Ferrari man 009]

I think Raikkonen is struggling because he set a time 0.001 secs faster than massa , one glitch - massa se his time using hard tyres whereas raikkonen set his time on soft tyres as the maclarens , i think it could be close between hamilton and massa because i think he will gain 3-5 tenths of a second when he puts the soft tyres on. Although with the forecasts for tomorrow anything can happen.

[bud]

the super softs are not worh 3-5 tenths per lap!

[przemo]

I think Raikkonen is struggling because he set a time 0.001 secs faster than massa , one glitch - massa se his time using hard tyres whereas raikkonen set his time on soft tyres as the maclarens , i think it could be close between hamilton and massa because i think he will gain 3-5 tenths of a second when he puts the soft tyres on. Although with the forecasts for tomorrow anything can happen.

Hamilton had 1:20:600 on harder tyres. Kovalainen I think also had harder tyres on his fastest lap (not sure though).
Raikkonen seems slower than Massa again. My vote goes to Lewis , but I hope that Massa can challenge for PP and mess with him.
Nice to see Piquet doing a perfect lap, maybe he'll qualify well this time.
As for BMW it seems both of their drivers have a hard time with the tyres, but after a few laps their pace is not too bad.
I didn't watch FP1 unfortunately

[EwanM]

Well, second practice is just over. This time, McLaren look faster than Ferrari, with Hamilton coming top and Raikkonen fifth, being almost half a second of the pace. The Renaults looked pretty good, with Piquet coming second and Alonso forth. BMW still look stuck in their rut, having balance problems, so are looking very vulnerable to Renault and Toyota, and maybe even Red Bull if they get their act together. Williams looked slightly better than this morning but were still very disappointing. Also, for what it's worth, McLaren were using the "ears" today.

Renault have caught BMW over the past few weeks, as have Toyota. Have BMW shifted their focus now solely on 2009?

[przemo]

Renault have caught BMW over the past few weeks, as have Toyota. Have BMW shifted their focus now solely on 2009?

They focused most of their time to the next year, so they fell behind, but I don't think Renault caught up to them just yet. Still, it's true that BMW is now rather defending than attacking.

[bud]

Renault have caught BMW over the past few weeks, as have Toyota. Have BMW shifted their focus now solely on 2009?

They focused most of their time to the next year, so they fell behind, but I don't think Renault caught up to them just yet. Still, it's true that BMW is now rather defending than attacking.

BMW-Sauber always start off the weekend slowly, or sandbag which ever way you want to put it, come Q i think they will have Renault covered

[J-Ridd 10]

Renault have caught BMW over the past few weeks, as have Toyota. Have BMW shifted their focus now solely on 2009?

They focused most of their time to the next year, so they fell behind, but I don't think Renault caught up to them just yet. Still, it's true that BMW is now rather defending than attacking.

BMW-Sauber always start off the weekend slowly, or sandbag which ever way you want to put it, come Q i think they will have Renault covered

BMW will again be 3rd best team.. However does it look like Kubica has gone of the boil recently? Heidfeld seems to be out-performing him over the last 2/3 races.. If only nick could sort out his qualifying!

[McLaren Fan]

Im still stuck on McLaren being a Kiwi team

Yeah, I was a little surprised to see a McLaren supporter from Australia.

Renault have caught BMW over the past few weeks, as have Toyota. Have BMW shifted their focus now solely on 2009?

It looks like it. Thiessen seemed to hint at that a while back anyway. It's good for McLaren - at the minute anyway. We've a lot of ground to make up in the constructors' championship, so we can't have BMW taking points off us!