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Hamilton scorches to pole hat-trick
Source: Agencies |
July 27, 2013, Saturday
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A STUNNED Lewis Hamilton scorched to his third pole position in a row for Mercedes in searing track temperatures at the Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday.
The 2008 Formula One world champion, a triple winner in Hungary with McLaren, lapped the Budapest circuit with a best time of one minute 19.388 seconds to deny Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel the top slot.
"Are we on pole?," the Briton shouted over the radio on his slowing down lap at the Hungaroring. "Yeah, we're as surprised as you," came the reply.
Triple world champion Vettel, who leads Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in the standings by 34 points after nine of 19 races, could manage only 1:19.426 with the track temperature hitting 50 degrees Celsius earlier in the session. He starts second.
Hamilton had never before taken three successive poles and his fourth of the season took his overall tally to 30 -- one more than the late Argentine five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
"With the temperatures, it was pretty tough. I was really surprised when they said I got pole. I didn't feel like that was a great lap," Hamilton told reporters.
"I was expecting Sebastian to get it," added the Briton who won from pole last year in Hungary but has yet to win a race since leaving McLaren at the end of the 2012 season.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean qualified third for Lotus with Hamilton's German teammate Nico Rosberg fourth. Alonso, who has not started on pole for more than a year and turns 32 tomorrow, will start fifth.
The race will be the first using the new Pirelli tires, which have been changed to marry the current compounds with last year's structure after a spate of blowouts in Britain last month threw the sport into crisis.
Mercedes was the only team who did not try out the new tires in Silverstone last week, as a punishment for a 'secret' test with Pirelli in Spain in May.
Grosjean's teammate Kimi Raikkonen, third in the overall standings and 41 points behind Vettel, qualified sixth while Australian Daniel Ricciardo continued to impress in eighth place for Toro Rosso.
The 2008 Formula One world champion, a triple winner in Hungary with McLaren, lapped the Budapest circuit with a best time of one minute 19.388 seconds to deny Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel the top slot.
"Are we on pole?," the Briton shouted over the radio on his slowing down lap at the Hungaroring. "Yeah, we're as surprised as you," came the reply.
Triple world champion Vettel, who leads Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in the standings by 34 points after nine of 19 races, could manage only 1:19.426 with the track temperature hitting 50 degrees Celsius earlier in the session. He starts second.
Hamilton had never before taken three successive poles and his fourth of the season took his overall tally to 30 -- one more than the late Argentine five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
"With the temperatures, it was pretty tough. I was really surprised when they said I got pole. I didn't feel like that was a great lap," Hamilton told reporters.
"I was expecting Sebastian to get it," added the Briton who won from pole last year in Hungary but has yet to win a race since leaving McLaren at the end of the 2012 season.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean qualified third for Lotus with Hamilton's German teammate Nico Rosberg fourth. Alonso, who has not started on pole for more than a year and turns 32 tomorrow, will start fifth.
The race will be the first using the new Pirelli tires, which have been changed to marry the current compounds with last year's structure after a spate of blowouts in Britain last month threw the sport into crisis.
Mercedes was the only team who did not try out the new tires in Silverstone last week, as a punishment for a 'secret' test with Pirelli in Spain in May.
Grosjean's teammate Kimi Raikkonen, third in the overall standings and 41 points behind Vettel, qualified sixth while Australian Daniel Ricciardo continued to impress in eighth place for Toro Rosso.
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