Hungary FP1: Ricciardo sets the early pace

The track was very green and as a result, many drivers went wide or had 'moments' as they explored the edge of traction early on in the weekend's proceedings.

Ricciardo, who did not use the faster Pirelli ultrasofts, set a best time of 1:17.613 which was a mere 0.079s up on the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel in second, with Max Verstappen third in the other Red Bull - the top three separated by less than a tenth of a second.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, albeit three tenths down on the benchmark time.

Fresh from their one-two at Hockenheim, the Mercedes duo struggled to find the sweet spot in the early morning session, the longer than normal wheelbase W09 may be compromised around the tight confines of the circuit described as Monaco without the yachts.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest, four tenths shy of Ricciardo's top time, and Valtteri Bottas sixth four tenths adrift of his teammate.

Best of the rest was Romain Grosjean in the Haas, 1.3 seconds down on the top time illustrates the gulf between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' which has transformed the top flight into two distinct divisions.

Next up were the Renault pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz eighth and ninth respectively. Hulkenberg was forced to park his car when it shut out completely during the session.

Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top ten in the Haas, a couple of tenths down on his teammate.

Charles Lecelerc was forced to sit out the session, giving up his Sauber cockpit to fellow Ferrari development driver Antonio Giovinazzi. The Italian was 18th, but quicker than Marcus Ericsson who was slowest of all.

In an effort to reverse his poor form, Stoffel Vandoorne requested that McLaren swap his chassis for Hungary. They obliged and he tried it out in the first practice session of the weekend, but he was still half a second down on teammate Fernando Alonso who finished 12th. The under-pressure Belgian driver was 16th.

Report in progress...