Hungary – Qualifications: Hamilton surprises everyone, even his own team

Q1: The first driver to hit the track is Esteban Gutierrez, which will allow him to gain more experience due to his lack of laps during the morning session. The Mexican sets the first benchmark time at 1:23.998. Adrian Sutil is the second driver to set a time, placing behind the Sauber driver, while Paul di Resta sets a new fastest time, before being surpassed by Valteri Bottas.

At mid-session, it is still the two Williams drivers leading the standings ahead of the Force India drivers. Daniel Ricciardo manages to set a new fastest time using fresh soft tires, prompting many other drivers to start with the same tires. And five minutes before the end, Romain Grosjean sets the temporary fastest time, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen. The Frenchman is then joined by Sebastian Vettel right behind him, before the two Mercedes emerge to reclaim the top two spots. Esteban Gutierrez and Paul di Resta are eliminated along with the Caterham and Marussia drivers.

Eliminated from Q1: Gutierrez, di Resta, Pic, van der Garde, Bianchi, Chilton.

Q2: Kimi Räikkönen is the first driver to go out for a timed lap with the soft tires. The use of these will be mandatory to advance to Q3. The Finn sets a time of 1:20.987, while Mark Webber suffers from a KERS problem. Romain Grosjean subsequently sets the provisional best time with a half-second lead over his teammate, before being surrounded by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. However, Sebastian Vettel doesn’t intend to leave this advantage to the Silver Arrows, and the triple world champion records an extremely fast lap at 1:19.992. Kimi Räikkönen signs a new fast lap to set the second fastest time, quickly followed by Romain Grosjean who loses a bit of time to Vettel in the second and third sectors. The two Lotus drivers climb to the top two positions.

At the end of the session, the two Mercedes drivers once again recorded the two best times, with Nico Rosberg ahead of his teammate. Jean-Eric Vergne fell short by six-tenths of a second behind his teammate and lost the chance to enter Q3.

Eliminated from Q2: Sutil, Hülkenberg, Button, Vergne, Maldonado, Bottas

Q3: The two Mercedes drivers set the two best times in the first attempts ahead of the two Lotus and Ferrari drivers. All these drivers record slower times than in Q2, except for Sebastian Vettel who sets a time of 1:19.506, the absolute best time of the weekend, eight-tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s best time in this session. All drivers then return to the pits to prepare for a final run. Mark Webber has to put his foot down and leaves his pit furious.

During the second phase of the attempt, the drivers set out to chase Sebastian Vettel’s time, and Kimi Räikkönen is the first driver to set a time, placing him temporarily in second place. Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg improve one after the other and take second and third places. But a nice surprise from Lewis Hamilton, who sets the best time that Sebastian Vettel cannot beat afterward.

So it is ultimately the Mercedes that secure pole position and the best overall qualification among the teams. But the Silver Arrows will have to contend with the high temperatures forecasted for tomorrow, which are far from favorable for them. Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean will be lying in wait, promising a great battle.

Results of the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying: