After just a four day lull in activity, Formula One was back on track this morning with the first free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. While Ferrari may have held the upper hand at Hockenheim, early indications point to Red Bull dominating round 12 of the championship. 

Sebastian Vettel set the Friday morning pace with a best lap of 1:20.976s around the 4.381km circuit, a tenth ahead of Red Bull Renault team-mate Mark Webber and some 1.1 seconds ahead of the third fastest driver.

The secret of the RB6 pace is not down to a single innovation or component, but it is now clear that their flexing front wings must be contributing to the performance of the car. The team has passed scrutineering so their flexible front wings are legal as the Milton Keynes-based team cleverly exploit a weakness in the regulations.

While Red Bull were a second clear of the field, Robert Kubica was third best in the leading Renault aiming to show that his high-downforce Monaco pace was no fluke.

Jenson Button sat out the first hour of running in the leading McLaren Mercedes before setting the fourth fastest time - 1.5 seconds behind Vettel and a tenth clear of the ever-green Rubens Barrichello in the leading Williams.

Pedro de la Rosa looked handy in his Sauber as he set the sixth best time ahead of German Grand Prix ‘winner’ Fernando Alonso. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were next up for Mercedes while Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten in the second Williams.

Adrian Sutil was 11th best in his Force India while Tonio Liuzzi was on the sidelines as the team opted to run tester Paul di Resta. After sitting out two-thirds of the session, the Scot was able to record the 15th best time. Given Liuzzi’s ongoing struggle in qualifying, the loss of more track time will undoubtedly impact on his performance.

Despite a few off track moment, or perhaps because of, Felipe Massa was 12th in the second Ferrari ahead of Vitaly Petrov who spun his Renault late in the session exiting the final turn. Kamui Kobayashi was 14th in the second Sauber.

Towards the back of the field, the order was pretty set with Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari 16th and 17th ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton whose best lap of 1:24.075s was 3.1 seconds off the pace...

Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen were next up for Lotus ahead of Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi. Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto brought up the rear as usual for HRT.

Early indications are ominous as Red Bull look set to dominate in Hungary.