Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix from Sebastian Vettel in a thrilling qualifying session.
The Mercedes driver claimed his fourth pole position of the year by less than four-hundredths of a second.
Q1
Qualifying took place in sweltering conditions at the Hungaroring with the track surface temperature hitting 50C early in Q1.
Esteban Gutierrez was the first driver to take to the track after Sauber installed a new engine in his car following his practice problems. Fellow Mexican Sergio Perez also required last-minute repairs to his car after practice and was able to get back on track.
However Gutierrez failed to make it any further, dropping out in Q1 for the sixth time this year.
Paul di Resta has missed out on Q2 twice earlier this year due to tactical errors in mixed conditions. He got no further than Q1 again today but this time the cause was a simple lack of performance.
“Where did the the grip gp?” asked a bemused Di Resta after qualifying 18th. Only the Caterhams and Marussias were behind him .
Drivers eliminated in Q1
| 17 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’21.724 |
| 18 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’22.043 |
| 19 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1’23.007 |
| 20 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1’23.333 |
| 21 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’23.787 |
| 22 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’23.997 |
Q2
Vettel was the first driver to get under the 80-second barrier in Q2, his lap good enough to secure him a place in Q3 without having to use another set of soft tyres.
But team mate Mark Webber was in trouble: an electrical problem stopped the ‘quick shift’ feature from working on his gearbox and deprived him of KERS. Despite the problems he still managed to drag his car into Q3.
The Mercedes pair beat Vettel’s time with their subsequent runs to secure their places in the final ten. But the margin between reaching Q3 and failing was narrow.
Daniel Ricciardo grabbed a Q3 spot with a lap of 1’20.527. He was just two hundredths of a second off Webber’s time, and Perez was the same margin behind him.
Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg were both within four-hundredths of a second of Perez, but both were on the wrong side of the cut.
Drivers eliminated in Q2
| 11 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’20.569 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’20.580 |
| 13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’20.777 |
| 14 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’21.029 |
| 15 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’21.133 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’21.219 |
Q3
The Mercedes driver led the way to begin with, Hamilton ahead of Rosberg but both around half a second off their Q2 pace as they began Q3 on used soft tyres.
But Vettel had an extra set of fresh rubber on hand. He looked on course to claim the top spot in Q3 when he lapped eight tenths of a second quicker than his pursuers.
He lowered that mark even further with his final run. But Hamilton found a little bit more, lapping in 1’19.388 to deny Vettel the coveted pole position place by less than four hundredths of a second.
Grosjean had been within range of the top times throughout the session but despite a small mistake at the final corner he didn’t believe he had the pace for pole position. He took third ahead of Rosberg.
Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen will share the third row. Webber did not set a time in Q3 due to his car problems.
Top ten in Q3
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’19.388 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’19.426 |
| 3 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’19.595 |
| 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’19.720 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’19.791 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’19.851 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’19.929 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’20.641 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1’22.398 |
| 10 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault |
2013 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Hamilton takes second Driver of the Weekend win
- Hungarian GP rated among top three races so far
- 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Why the Hungarian Grand Prix is a must-see race
- 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Manished
27th July 2013, 15:20
Merc train tomorrow like Monaco???
Lewis has the best chance to win in such narrow circuit. Singapore will be another one.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
27th July 2013, 15:23
The Driver-skill Replacement System will help people get past Lewis if his tyres start to go off.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th July 2013, 15:26
@red-andy HAHA ! well done xD
David BR2
27th July 2013, 15:31
Current Formula 1 in a nut shell. Can’t wait for the post-Ecclestone era.
JCost (@jcost)
27th July 2013, 15:37
+1.
Yud (@yud77)
27th July 2013, 15:54
are you ready for horner era……….???
LOL
David not Coulthard (@)
27th July 2013, 18:13
COTD.
brny666
27th July 2013, 18:40
Seb will probably get past before DRS is even on.
syawhat
28th July 2013, 17:27
lol @ Driver-skill Replacement System
That’s brilliant. Comment of the month.
Yud (@yud77)
27th July 2013, 15:52
after turn 1 LSH WILL Probable see SEB & GRO in front of him
i wonder if he will be in shock when it’s happen LOL
IsaacTham (@isaactham)
27th July 2013, 17:11
It will be difficult for Vettel and Grosjean to overtake Hamilton because Hamilton has a 5.5 and 4.9kph straight line speed advantage over them (and the speed trap is only halfway down the front straight)
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
27th July 2013, 15:24
Great work by Hamilton. Puts this “schocking pace” comment into perspective…
Well done Romain Grosjean too. I hops Lotus won’t do a Ferrari trick and change his gearbox so that Kimi gets the clean side of the track. Team orders are ok, but that would be … disgusting. I hope he scores another podium, as his pace throughout FPs and Qualis has been remarkable. He has to survive the 1st corner though…
I’ll try to keep an eye on the RIC/VER battle too…
Manished
27th July 2013, 15:32
why would Lotus does a ferrari trick?? Grosjean has to move out of the way previously because his teammate was on diff strategy and lapping faster.
Klaas (@klaas)
27th July 2013, 15:51
yeah, and wipe away a couple of rivals while doing it so Kimi could have it even easier :)
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th July 2013, 16:12
@klaas Lotus are more concerned over constructors points right now so he’d have to do a spectacular job of it :)
scuderia_fan85 (@scuderia_fan85)
27th July 2013, 15:49
i hope the “dirty” side is not that much of a problem for drivers.
svarun (@svarun)
27th July 2013, 16:36
The conditions you are referring to are totally different.
Alonso was fighing vettel for the WDC and was 10 points only behind in abu dhabi and thus wanted to reduce the gap
Whereas here we are in mid season,so such things are not expected.
Even ferrari would not have done it had Alonso not been in contention for WDC.
Manished
27th July 2013, 17:05
Its common sense not to compromise your teammate when the strategy was different.
Merc, rbr, ferrari, Lotus and others have done it so far. Though Merc was weird to stop the faster rosberg from overtaking the slower lewis in malaysia. ROFL
Its not team order. Its common sense to let your faster teammate through based on different strategy run. Otherwise, no point doing so.
Eggry (@eggry)
27th July 2013, 15:27
Great lap from Hamilton. You’re the saviour!
Lari (@lari)
27th July 2013, 18:18
@eggry Saviour of what/who? Eggry? Some island in north of mainland EU? ;)
svarun (@svarun)
27th July 2013, 18:31
Saviour from people getting 15 out of 19 pole positions in a season ;)
Lari (@lari)
27th July 2013, 19:31
We don’t have that problem this year, actually it should soon be the otherway around, anyone else than Merc getting pole should be cheered :) @svarun
Yud (@yud77)
27th July 2013, 15:40
1 time in the last 9 race in hungry won by pull sitter
4 time in last 9 race won from the dirty side of the grid
seb got it in the bag
Klaas (@klaas)
27th July 2013, 15:47
Or Rosberg, or Raikkonen, or anyone else who survives Grosjean in the first corner.
btw, remember the statistics about Vettel never winning in July – didn’t matter too much in the last race…
Lari (@lari)
27th July 2013, 18:19
If Crashjean gets penalized from the floor, then he’s problem only for the Marussia&Caterham, so lets hope so ;)
sao paulo taxi driver (@sao-paulo-taxi-driver)
27th July 2013, 19:30
“anyone else who survives Grosjean”
haha, brilliant. The ‘first lap nutcase’ hasn’t stuck since suzuka though, has he?
Rockie
27th July 2013, 22:23
Spa you mean!
Klaas (@klaas)
27th July 2013, 15:42
What a surprise to see Webber having problems with his RB9.
With Vettel to far away in the WDC table, Mercedes should really push for the WCC this season, they have a real chance there.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
27th July 2013, 15:46
Good job by Grosjean, Lewis done well too, lets see how the tyres hold up tomorrow. Hungary isn’t as hard to overtake as Monaco (though it isn’t easy either) but turn 1 is a good spot as the entry is quite wide. I think that if Mercedes tyres don’t last this is between the Lotuses and Red Bull (Vettel) with Fernando as a dark horse.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th July 2013, 21:22
I always thought Alonso drove a red horse @pmccarthy_is_a_legend? ;)
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
28th July 2013, 14:05
lol red horse indeed! @vettel1
Deurmat (@deurmat)
27th July 2013, 15:52
Why is it that only Mark Webber’s Red Bulll has problems and NEVER Vettels? This KERS problem for Mark has been going on for more than 2 years now…
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th July 2013, 16:06
@deurmat can you remember all the way back to Silverstone? Or indeed Germany, where Vettel had KERS problems during parts of the race?
Nick (@schneeb)
27th July 2013, 19:51
The cockpit *could* be slightly different to accommodate MW’s height making KERS packaging more troublesome in high temps (every race for RB).
scuderia_fan85 (@scuderia_fan85)
27th July 2013, 15:52
it would be great for Romain to get past Vettel, hold him up to allow Kimi to get close
MG421982 (@)
27th July 2013, 16:01
And if Mercs have a problem with the tyres… it’s their problem !
Meander (@meander)
27th July 2013, 16:10
I really hope we don’t get a situation in which Grosjean has to give up his maiden win. He has been genuinely on the pace this weekend and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him out front at some point tomorrow.
Lari (@lari)
27th July 2013, 18:21
@meander Crashjean will give up his win on his own to either one of the front runners, or if he gets penalized for his new floor, then he gives it up to either Marussia or Caterham drivers :D
karter22 (@karter22)
27th July 2013, 16:20
Nice Qualy! Lewis went HAM at the hungaroring! Grosjean just made Kimi look slow and SV´s look when it was all over was priceless!!
ALO once again keeping Ferrari true! I hope he can have one of his trademark starts and get in front of SV so he can add some good points!
Anybody wanna put some money down on GRO´s start tomorrow?? I predict he takes somebody out!!
Deej44 (@deej92)
27th July 2013, 19:24
Ricciardo continues to impress, reaching Q3 for the fourth time in a row. Toro Rosso didn’t look good in the practice sessions but he keeps delivering for them, and he’s only two places down from Raikkonen.
Kingszito
27th July 2013, 20:15
We should have nothing but respect for all these drivers. I am not against criticizing a driver when he deserves it, but calling them names is not fair. I am a fan of only One driver, but yet I have lots of respect for each and everyone of them. Grosjean made mistakes last season and paid the prize and since then he has been doing his best to be a better driver. Today he did well, so instead of calling him names, we should try to encourage his brilliant quali lap today.
Master firelee (@master-firelee)
27th July 2013, 21:10
I can see Hamilton immediately attempting to cover Vettel off the line and braking too late into the first corner forcing Vettel out wide, then Grosjean slips up the inside followed by Alonso who got a great start as usual then Rosberg and Raikkonen putting Hamilton 5th and Vettel 6th.
LuvinF1 (@luvinf1)
28th July 2013, 3:06
You probably need to put your glasses back on …
Master firelee (@master-firelee)
28th July 2013, 7:33
Maybe…
Jason (@jason12)
27th July 2013, 21:43
AMAZING LAP from Lewis.
He truly is just the best out there!