Lewis Hamilton wins Pole by half a second at Hungary

Lewis Hamilton beats Rosberg to pole by over half a second at Hungary

In the F1 Grand Prix qualifying at Hungaroring today, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes beat his teammate Nico Rosberg by over half a second to score the pole position. Hamilton scored 1m 22.020 seconds. Rosberg was 0.575 seconds behind. This was Lewis Hamilton's 9th pole position out of 10 F1 qualifying races this year.

Hamilton said "I love the track. It feels a bit like an old karting circuit."Naturally he is elated and loves this circuit as this was his 5th pole position in Hungary. Given his dominance in this track and the massive gap to second placed Rosberg, it is expected that Lewis Hamilton will win tomorrows race easily.

Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari qualified in third position. He was 0.719 seconds behind.

Redbull racing showed good speed in the twisting and turning circuit and Daniel Ricciardo qualified in fourth position with a time of 1m 22.774. He was just 0.035 seconds behind Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari qualified in 5th and qualified with a time of 1m 23.020 which is a full 1 second slower than pole sitter Hamilton's time.

Vallteri Bottas of Williams qalified in 6th with a time of 1m 23. 222 seconds. So the third row will be a all Finnish driver row.

Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull scored 1m 23.332 seconds and qualified in P7. He was followed by Felipe Massa of Williams in 8th. Massa's time of 1m 23.537 was more than one and half mins slower than the time of Hamilton.

Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso came in P9 and was the last of the drivers to remain below 1m 24 second. He scored 1m 23.679 seconds. Romain Grosjean of Lotus was P10 with a time of 1m 24. 181 seconds.

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India missed qualifying for the top ten shoot out ie Q3 of the qualifying section by a mere 0.021 second. Hulkenberg qualified in P11. He was followed by Sainz of Toro Rosso at P12. Sergio Perez of Force India will start in the 7th row as he came in at P13. Pastor Maldonado of Lotus will start along his side as he qualified in P14.

Fernando Alonso of McLaren had a problem with his car and he along with the Marshals pushed it back to the garage. However, there was no time to look into the problem and he qualified in P15. His teammate Jenson Button will start alongside him in P16.

Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr of Sauber will start in P17 and P18. They are followed by Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens of Manor Racing.

Hungary 2015 F1 Qualifying Positions:

Lewis Hamilton wins F1 Hungarian Grand Prix

Hamilton registers his first win with Mercedes team as he wins the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2013.

Lewis Hamilton started on pole and managed to retain the lead in the rush to the turn 1 where as his team mate Nico Rosberg hurtled back and was one lap down when he retired in lap 66. Hamilton did the first stop for tyre change in lap 10th. He made two further stops to win the Hungarian Grand Prix 2013.

The race was more or less decided when after the first pit stop Hamilton rejoined behind Jenson Button who was on medium tyres and could immediately overtake him. However, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull similarly joined behind Button after the first pit stop but couldn’t pass him. At one stage the pack of three cars of Button followed by Vettel and Grosjean were trying to fight each other and lost a lot of time. In the end that proved to be crucial.

The race had its moments when different players set the fastest lap times at different times based on the time they changed to new tires. Vettel made a stop in lap 56 and immediately after in lap 60 set a fastest lap time which was nearly a second faster than that of Hamilton in that lap. However, Hamilton continued his composure and won the race easily.

Mark Webber shifted to soft tyres in lap 60 and then set a fastest lap time 1:24.069 in lap 61. However he was more than 20 seconds behind Hamilton and hence didn’t pose any challenge. Soon the challengers realised the inevitability and settled into a rhythm. So Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus finished in 2nd position as he could make his two stop strategy work to perfection. Kimi Raikkonen was followed by Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull in 3rd.

Jenson Button of McLaren was the other driver in two stop strategy and finished in 7th.

Final Standings in F1 Hungarian Grand Prix

1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
4. Mark Webber Red Bull
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus
7. Jenson Button McLaren
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari
9. Sergio Perez McLaren
10. Pastor Maldonado Williams
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso
14. G. Van der Garde Caterham
15. Charles Pic Marussia
16. Jules Bianchi Marussia
17. Max Chilton Caterham

Retirements in F1 Hungarian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg Mercedes
Valteri Bottas Willams
Esteban Gutierrez Sauber
Adrian Sutil Force India


Lewis Hamilton was incredibly happy to win the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix as his first victory with Mercedes team.

Hamilton snatches Pole in Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying

Hamilton snatches Pole in Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

In the Final leg of the Qualifying, Lewis Hamilton drove at a scorching pace to snatch the pole position from Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton scored 1:19.388 vs 1:19.426 of Sebastian Vettel.

Romain Grosjean of Lotus came third in 1:19.595. He was followed by Nico Rosberg in 4th with a time of 1:19.720.
Fernando Alonso of Ferrari came 5th and will start in the 3rd row with Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus on 6th. They were timed at 1:19.791 and 1:19.851.
Felipe Massa of Ferrari scored 1:19.929 to come at P7th and was followed by Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso at 8th with a time of 1:20.641.

Sergio Perez of McLaren came 9th with a time of 1:22.398. He was followed by Mark Webber of Red Bull - who had limped into the Q3 ie. Final leg of qualifying – choosing not to set a time.

We were surprised when Mercedes took P1-2 positions in the first segment of the qualifying Q1 in the F1 Hungary Grand Prix. With Romain Grosjean topping the timesheets in the Practice 3, it was expected that the lotus will give a fight to the Red Bulls. However, Mercedes decided to show its hand in the Q1 in qualifying with Nico Rosberg leading his teammate Lewis Hamilton 1:20.350 to 1:20.363 for P1 and P2 positions.

Mark Webber of Red Bull had an electrical problem and finished at 13th position in the Q1. Paul di Resta of Force India was a surprise dropout in the Q1.

Drivers eliminated in Q1 in Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:21.724
18. Paul di Resta Force India 1:22.043
19. Charles Pic Caterham 1:23.007
20. G. van der Garde Caterham 1:23.333
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:23.787
22. Max Chilton Marussia 1:23.997

In the Q2 it was again P1 and P2 for the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton with times of 1:19.778 vs 1:19.862. Whereas Sergio Perez could squeeze in to 10th position his team mate Jenson Button was only 13th. Daniel Ricciardo was 7th in Q2, but his teammate Jules Eric Vergne couldn’t make the top ten shoot out as he finished in 14th with times of 1:20.527 vs 1:21.029. Clearly Daniel Ricciardo is making his case stronger for getting the Red Bull seat next year, atleast above Vergne.

Drivers eliminated in Q2 in Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

11. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:20.569
12. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:20.580
13. Jenson Button McLaren 1:20.777
14. Jules Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:21.029
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:21.133
16. Valteri Bottas Williams 1:21.219