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Hamilton on pole for Hungarian GP
Source: AFP |
July 29, 2012, Sunday
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BRITON Lewis Hamilton confirmed that he and McLaren have recovered their form when he swept to a dominant pole position in yesterday's closely-fought qualifying session for today'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.
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 team-mate and compatriot Jenson Button.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen was fifth in the second Lotus ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso of Spain and his Ferrari teammate Brazilian Felipe Massa. Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado was eighth ahead of his Williams teammate Brazilian Bruno Senna and German Nico Hulkenberg in the leading Force India.
For Hamilton, it was a third pole of the year and the 22nd of his career.
On a hot afternoon at the Hungaroring, north of Budapest, the track temperature was 45 degrees Celsius when qualifying began, with Grosjean one of the first men out.
The morning had been dominated by paddock gossip about another controversy surrounding the Red Bull team which, it was claimed, had been told to remove a device that allowed it to adjust its front ride-height by hand. The claim came from the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport which said also that the incident happened following the Canadian Grand Prix.
The opening session saw Hamilton on top with the two Red Bulls struggling to avoid an embarrassing early cut, Webber winding up in 16th place and Germany's Vettel 17th ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso who had his worst qualifying of the year.
He was the leading driver eliminated ahead of Finn Heikki Kovalainen and his Caterham teammate Vitaly Petrov, Frenchman Charles Pic and German Timo Glock of Marussia and the two Hispanias of Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa and Indian Narain Karthikeyan.
Hamilton was out in front fastest ahead of two other Britons Paul Di Resta of Force India and Jenson Button, in the second McLaren.
In Q2, Grosjean was out early again to go top before he was replaced by Raikkonen. Then Hamilton, in blistering form, shot to the top in 1:21.060, half a second faster than the Finn.
The final minutes saw some dramatic scrapping for positions before, unexpectedly, Webber was unable to beat the cut and was eliminated in 11th place along with Di Resta in 12th.
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.
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 team-mate and compatriot Jenson Button.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen was fifth in the second Lotus ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso of Spain and his Ferrari teammate Brazilian Felipe Massa. Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado was eighth ahead of his Williams teammate Brazilian Bruno Senna and German Nico Hulkenberg in the leading Force India.
For Hamilton, it was a third pole of the year and the 22nd of his career.
On a hot afternoon at the Hungaroring, north of Budapest, the track temperature was 45 degrees Celsius when qualifying began, with Grosjean one of the first men out.
The morning had been dominated by paddock gossip about another controversy surrounding the Red Bull team which, it was claimed, had been told to remove a device that allowed it to adjust its front ride-height by hand. The claim came from the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport which said also that the incident happened following the Canadian Grand Prix.
The opening session saw Hamilton on top with the two Red Bulls struggling to avoid an embarrassing early cut, Webber winding up in 16th place and Germany's Vettel 17th ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso who had his worst qualifying of the year.
He was the leading driver eliminated ahead of Finn Heikki Kovalainen and his Caterham teammate Vitaly Petrov, Frenchman Charles Pic and German Timo Glock of Marussia and the two Hispanias of Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa and Indian Narain Karthikeyan.
Hamilton was out in front fastest ahead of two other Britons Paul Di Resta of Force India and Jenson Button, in the second McLaren.
In Q2, Grosjean was out early again to go top before he was replaced by Raikkonen. Then Hamilton, in blistering form, shot to the top in 1:21.060, half a second faster than the Finn.
The final minutes saw some dramatic scrapping for positions before, unexpectedly, Webber was unable to beat the cut and was eliminated in 11th place along with Di Resta in 12th.
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