Hungary – Qualifying: Hamilton secures McLaren’s 150th pole!

Q1: It is under summer temperatures that this first part of the session begins (30°C in the air, 46°C on the track). The sun is out and is expected to remain so for the qualifying hour.

At the green light, Romain Grosjean is the first on the track. His Lotus E20 is fitted with Medium tires, the hardest offered by Pirelli this weekend, with the other option being the Soft compound. The driver from Geneva sets the first benchmark at 1:27.333.

The times are dropping quickly and after 5 minutes of running, Kimi Räikkönen is in the lead with a time of 1:23.273 (Mediums), ahead of the two Force Indias. All the cars are on track and it’s difficult to fit all the cars on the 4 kilometers of the circuit’s layout.

Räikkönen improves his time to 1:22.689, ahead of Jenson Button and Nico Hülkenberg, all on Medium tires. Felipe Massa then moves up to second with 1:23.123, which is beaten by Romain Grosjean in 1:22.922 and Lewis Hamilton, who takes the lead, in 1:22.371.

At mid-session, Sebastian Vettel is in trouble in 18th position with a time of 1:24.476. The double World Champion is even behind the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen, surprisingly 15th with a time of 1:23.945. The German still improves and moves up to 6th, with a time of 1:22.948 (Mediums). Bruno Senna sets the second-fastest time at 1:22.660, confirming that the Williams is comfortable on the Hungarian track. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa was impeded at the exit of turn 4 by Michael Schumacher.

Jean-Eric Vergne, who switched to Soft tires, takes the 4th fastest time with 1:22.799, while Lewis Hamilton, still on Mediums, improves to 1:21.794. The Frenchman’s teammate can do no better than 13th, with a 1:23.250 in his first attempt on Softs.

The last minutes are contested with Soft tires for everyone except the Lotus, while the Toro Rosso team has finished their session, securing Jean-Eric Vergne a place in Q2 since he beat Daniel Ricciardo as well as the 6 cars deemed weaker. Alonso clocks the 2nd fastest time in 1:22.095, beaten by Paul di Resta in 1:21.912, and Nico Rosberg in 1:22.079. Kamui Kobayashi is then the one in danger, he must beat the time of 1:23.250 set by Daniel Ricciardo to advance to Q2. The Japanese driver succeeds, securing 15th place with a time of 1:22.801.

The drivers eliminated in Q1 are: Ricciardo, Kovalainen, Petrov, Pic, Glock, De La Rosa, and Karthikeyan.

Q2: Michael Schumacher is the first to go out for this second part of the qualifying session. The seven-time World Champion is already on Soft tires, like all his colleagues. After a small mistake in turn 4, the German cuts his effort to preserve his tires for a second attempt. Felipe Massa is therefore the first to set a significant time, at 1:21.951, quickly overtaken by Nico Hülkenberg at 1:21.906 and then Jenson Button at 1:21.880.

Romain Grosjean takes the best time with 1:21.854, before being beaten by Kimi Räikkönen with 1:21.614. The Lotus drivers take advantage of their Q1 entirely run on Medium tires and thus start this Q2 on new Soft tires, just like Lewis Hamilton. Mark Webber separates the two Lotus on the timesheet, with 1:21.844 for the Australian.

With 6 minutes remaining, Lewis Hamilton sets himself up as the strong favorite for pole position with a time of 1:21.060, 6 tenths faster than the fastest Lotus. It’s the calm before the storm, a period of quiet where Jean-Eric Vergne sets his first time of the session, 13th in 1:22.380, luxuriously ahead of the Mercedes of Schumacher and Rosberg. Felipe Massa is also on track and sets the second-best time, at 1:21.534. His teammate, in danger at 10th place, falls short by a few hundredths of a second behind the Brazilian, with a time of 1:21.598.

With 2 minutes remaining in the session, it’s Sebastian Vettel who is under threat, but the German secures himself by clocking a 1:21.407, enough to be 2nd. Mark Webber is 7th, which doesn’t guarantee him a spot in Q3 as everyone can still complete a lap. The Mercedes cars are currently out of the top 10. Ultimately, Maldonado climbs to 3rd, Hülkenberg to 8th, and Senna to 10th, which eliminates Mark Webber, unable to improve his time, and Schumacher, hindered in his final attempt by dust raised from Pastor Maldonado going wide.

The drivers eliminated from Q2 are: Webber, di Resta, Rosberg, Pérez, Kobayashi, Vergne, and Schumacher.

Q3: Nico Hülkenberg is the first on track for these last 10 minutes of qualifying. The German is on Medium tires, unlike all his fellow competitors. Vettel and the Ferraris have chosen to stay in the pits to save a set of tires. With Hülkenberg coming in directly, as well as the two Williams, it’s Lewis Hamilton who sets the first time, not significant after a small mistake at the exit of turn 7 likely caused by the dust on the track following Maldonado’s excursion into the grass at the end of Q2.

Kimi Räikkönen takes pole position with a time of 1:22.717 but is quickly overtaken by Lewis Hamilton with a time of 1:21.260. Romain Grosjean slots in with a time of 1:21.763, ahead of Jenson Button with a time of 1:22.429.

With 3 minutes remaining, Sebastian Vettel starts his stopwatch for what will be his only stint of the session. The German is ahead of Hamilton after 2 sectors, but the 3rd sector isn’t enough to secure the pole, falling short by one and a half tenths. Maldonado climbs to 4th position with a time of 1:21.939.

Fernando Alonso can only manage 4th with 1:21.844 in his sole attempt, just ahead of Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton definitively seals the deal with 1:20.953 while Romain Grosjean finishes the qualifying by clocking the 2nd fastest time at 1:21.366. The Frenchman will be on the dirty side of the track but will start from the front row – his best result in an F1 qualifying session.

Results of the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying: