Lewis Hamilton proved untouchable in qualifying as he comfortably secured pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion was in a class of his own as he posted a 1:22.020s effort, which was more than half a second quicker than his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton set the pace from the outset at the Hungaroring before improving with a blistering final flying lap to claim his 47th career pole position by a sizeable 0.575s margin.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel emerged as the best of the rest in third position just fractionally ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, who equalled his best qualifying result of the season.
The Australian managed to split the Ferraris with Kimi Raikkonen a second adrift of the pace-setting Hamilton in fifth.
Valtteri Bottas will join his compatriot on the third row ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and his Williams team-mate Felipe Massa.
Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10.
After undergoing a suspension modification overnight following Sergio Perez’s Friday crash, Force India was unable to break into Q3 with Nico Hulkenberg 11th and Perez in 13th spot.
McLaren endured another difficult qualifying session with mechanical issues striking both its drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.
Alonso brought out the red flags in Q2 when his MP4-30 ground to a halt after a sudden loss of power just before the pit entry.
This came after an ERS failure contributed to Button missing out on securing a place in the second part of qualifying.
As a result, Alonso and Button will start Sunday’s race from 15th and 16th positions respectively.
Sauber also found the going tough as Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr struggled for pace, which restricted the pair to the penultimate row of the grid.
Result: Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying, Hungaroring
Position | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:22.020s | – |
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:22.595s | +0.575s |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:22.739s | +0.719s |
4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1″22.774s | +0.754s |
5 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:23.020s | +1.000s |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1:23.222s | +1.202s |
7 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1:23.332s | +1.312s |
8 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1:23.537s | +1.517s |
9 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:23.679s | +1.659s |
10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Mercedes | 1:24.181s | +2.161s |
11 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1:23.826s | +1.806s Q2 |
12 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:23.869s | +1.849s Q2 |
13 | Sergio Pérez | Force India/Mercedes | 1:24.461s | +2.441s Q2 |
14 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Mercedes | 1:24.609s | +2.589s Q2 |
15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | – | – Q2 |
16 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1:24.739s | +2.719s Q1 |
17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:24.843s | +2.823s Q1 |
18 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:24.997s | +2.977s Q1 |
19 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia/Ferrari | 1:27.416s | +5.396s Q1 |
20 | Will Stevens | Marussia/Ferrari | 1’27.949 | +5.929s Q1 |