Vettel Pips The McLarens To Pole in Hungary

To many, Sebastian Vettel started the qualifying session as the underdog but the Red Bull man showed his single lap prowess once again to deny McLaren their first pole position of the season. Lewis Hamilton looked like the man to beat after getting through the two knockout sessions on the prime tyre, but Vettel made the difference when the super-softs were bolted on for the last run.

As the drivers ventured out for their final efforts, it was Hamilton who was defending pole position after his 1:19.978 proved too quick for Vettel's first effort. But the World Champion delivered the quickest lap of the weekend when it mattered most to snatch pole by 0.163s.

Jenson Button leapfrogged Fernando Alonso to take third on his final attempt, and with the Spaniard having a difficult lap, it opened the door for teammate Felipe Massa to out qualify him for the first time this year.

By his own admission, Mark Webber was unable to match the pace of his teammate and will start on the dirty side of the grid in sixth, six tenths behind. Nico Rosberg took the honours for the Mercedes team, with Adrian Sutil separating him from teammate Michael Schumacher, while Sergio Perez settled for tenth after opting to sit out the final session.

Paul Di Resta came agonizingly close to getting both Force Indias into Q3 but lost out by a fraction of a second. The Briton will start 11^th with both Renaults behind him after a miserable session for the Enstone team. Vitaly Petrov finished down in 12^th ahead of Kamui Kobayashi with Nick Heidfeld a disappointing 14^th.

Williams struggled too with Rubens Barrichello venting his frustration on the team radio on his way to 15^th, Jaime Alguersuari will start alongside in 16^th with Pastor Maldonado choosing to save tyres in the second session to qualify 17^th.

Sebastien Buemi was the big scalp in Q1 as Toro Rosso looked to save their sets of Super-Soft tyres for tomorrow's race. The Swiss driver was pushed out of the top 17 in the dying seconds by Maldonado who produced a 1:23.847 on his final lap to save himself.

Team Lotus lost both drivers in the first session but will have been encouraged to be within half a second of the Toro Rosso ahead of them. For HRT and Virgin, simply qualifying for the race was a triumph after they had struggled to get within 107% of the pace in the morning.

 

Hungarian Grand Prix:  Qualifying Result

Pos	Driver	Nat	Constructor	Tyre	Lap Time
1	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Red Bull Racing Renault	Option	1:19.815
2	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	McLaren Mercedes	Option	1:19.978
3	Jenson Button	GBR	McLaren Mercedes	Option	1:20.024
4	Felipe Massa	BRA	Ferrari	Option	1:20.350
5	Fernando Alonso	SPA	Ferrari	Option	1:20.365
6	Mark Webber	AUS	Red Bull Racing Renault	Option	1:20.464
7	Nico Rosberg	GER	Mercedes	Option	1:21.098
8	Adrian Sutil	GER	Force India Mercedes	Option	1:21.445
9	Michael Schumacher	GER	Mercedes	Option	1:21.907
10	Sergio Perez	MEX	Sauber Ferrari	n/a	No Time
Eliminated in Q2
11	Paul Di Resta	GBR	Force India Mercedes	Option	1:22.256
12	Vitaly Petrov	RUS	Renault	Option	1:22.284
13	Kamui Kobayashi	JAP	Sauber Ferrari	Option	1:22.435
14	Nick Heidfeld	GER	Renault	Option	1:22.470
15	Rubens Barrichello	BRA	Williams Cosworth	Option	1:22.684
16	Jaime Alguersuari	SPA	STR Ferrari	Option	1:22.979
17	Pastor Maldonado	VEN	Williams Cosworth	n/a	No Time
Eliminated in Q1
18	Sebastien Buemi*	SWI	STR Ferrari	Prime	1:24.070
19	Heikki Kovalainen	FIN	Lotus Renault	Option	1:24.372
20	Jarno Trulli	ITA	Lotus Renault	Option	1:24.534
21	Timo Glock	GER	Virgin Cosworth	Option	1:26.294
22	Vitantonio Liuzzi	ITA	HRT Cosworth	Option	1:26.323
23	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	HRT Cosworth	Option	1:26.479
24	Jerome D'Ambrosio	BEL	Virgin Cosworth	Option	1:26.510
Q1 107% Time – 1:27.288

*Five-Place Grid Penalty