Championship leader Sebastian Vettel grabbed pole position for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix as Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid in a tense, dramatic qualifying session on Saturday. The four-time champion clocked a best lap of 1:16.276 seconds — a Hungaroring record — to secure his third pole at this circuit, and the 48th of his career.
“Yes, yes, grazie tuti! ” screamed german Vettel on his slowdown lap. “The car has been incredible today, and I love this track! Front row for us is incredible!
“We’re working hard. It is just great. Obviously, the last race wasn’t great for us, but we are here now.”
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His Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was second fastest, and will start alongside Vettel at the front of the grid ahead of the two Mercedes led by Valtteri Bottas, and championship rival Lewis Hamilton, who is just one point behind Vettel in the standings.
Hamilton said he was not surprised by Ferrari’s overnight leap in performance.
“They were always going to be quick here and I was reasonably satisfied with our performance. I thought we did quite well, except in Q3, for me,” he said. “But you can’t overtake here and it will be a train unless we can do something on the strategy.”
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Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, with Nico Hulkenberg seventh for Renault and two-time champion Fernando Alonso eighth for McLaren-Honda on his 36th birthday.
On the opening Q3 laps, Hamilton went off at turn-four, and chose to abort the lap. Bottas clocked 1:16.631 and then Vettel raised the record bar again to 1:16.276.
Surprisingly, given his earlier grumbles about the tyres and his ‘off’ in Q2, Hamilton was soon out for his final run. “Big vibration on these tyres,” he said, again, as he launched his first flying lap.
But it was in vain as Vettel took pole from Raikkonen, who produced a scorching final lap to snatch second from Bottas.
The starting grid:Row 1: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Row 2: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Row 3: Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Row 4: Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren), Row 5: Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Jolyon Palmer (Renault), Row 6: Esteban Ocon (Force India), Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Row 7: Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Sergio Perez (Force India), Row 8: Romain Grosjean (Haas), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Row 9: Lance Stroll (Williams), Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber), Row 10: Paul di Resta (Williams), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) .