Briton Lewis Hamilton confirmed that he and McLaren have recovered their form when he swept to a dominant pole position in Saturday's closely-fought qualifying session for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Driving with supreme speed and consistency, the 27-year-old Briton clocked a best time of one minute and 20.953 seconds to top the times ahead of nearest rival Frenchman Romain Grosjean in a Lotus.u00a0
McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton rejoices at the Hungaroring circuit yesterday. Pic/AFP
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Grosjean secured his front row starting position with a fast lap in the final seconds of a tight session to move ahead of third-placed defending drivers champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Hamilton’s teammate and compatriot Jenson Button.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen was fifth in the second Lotus ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso of Spain and his Ferrari team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa.
Maldonado eighth
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado was eighth ahead of his Williams teammate Brazilian Bruno Senna and German Nico Hulkenberg in the leading Force India.u00a0For Hamilton, it was a third pole of the year and the 22nd of his career. “That was a really good session and I would have been disappointed not to have taken pole,” said Hamilton.u00a0“But we will have a lot to do before we have done the job.” “There is no real secret (to Sunday’s race), it is the same as anyone else,” Hamilton said.
“You have to keep your head cool and make sure you look after your tyres. Tyre strategy will be important tomorrow, and degradation will be interesting.” “Jenson showed our upgrades are an improvement and hopefully I can show the same thing tomorrow. We have a long race tomorrow so lots can happen, but we need to keep cool,” Hamilton said.u00a0
Hulkenberg to start from 10th position
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg qualified 10th for Sunday’s Hungarian GP while Paul Di Resta failed in Q3 of the qualifiers and will start on 12th position. For Hulkenberg, day’s best lap came in Q2 clocking 1:21.653, but his timing of 1:22.847 in Q3 got him P10. Force India (46) are one point behind Williams in the constructors’ championship. Narain Karthikeyan will start from the last position on 24th.
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