Ferrari dominate qualifying in Hungary

Sebastian Vettel has claimed his second pole position of the year as Ferrari locked out the front row for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Vettel was untouchable in the final part of qualifying, his first lap standing the test of time to secure him his third pole position at the Hungaroring circuit.

He will be joined on the front row by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who knocked Valtteri Bottas from second spot as the chequered flag fell.

“The car to be honest all day has been incredible,” said Vettel.

“I’m very happy with where we are as a team, just remember where we were twelve months ago and where we are now.

“The main task comes tomorrow, so nothing won today, but for sure we’re very happy.”

An aborted lap from Lewis Hamilton, a result of running off the circuit at Turn 4, left the Brit with just a single flying lap at the end of qualifying.

However struggling with vibrations in his Mercedes, Hamilton was unable to match Vettel’s the pace and could only post the fourth fastest time.

Hamilton had been fastest in Qualifying 2, where a ragged lap set the benchmark at 1:16.693s.

It was however a false dawn, with Vettel having laid down a 1:16.693s earlier in the session which left him satisfied enough to sit out the remainder of the session and save a set of tyres heading into Sunday’s grand prix.

A frustrated Daniel Ricciardo recorded the sixth best time, recovering from an electrical problem that curtailed his running in final practice, while Max Verstappen in the sister Red Bull was fifth.

Both Fernando Alonso and his McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne made it into the top ten, setting the eighth and ninth places respectively.

Nico Hulkenberg clocked the seventh quickest time, but will take a five-place penalty courtesy of a gearbox change heading into tomorrow’s race.

Failing to make the cut into the final phase of qualifying were both Force Indias, Esteban Ocon 12th and Sergio Perez 14th, while Jolyon Palmer again missed out on a berth in the final part of the qualifying hour.

Daniil Kvyat also failed to make it through while Romain Grosjean’s struggles with understeer and under braking left him in 15th place.

Neither Williams escaped the first phase of qualifying, Lance Stroll 17th fastest while Paul Di Resta impressed to set a lap just 0.7s off the pace of his teammate despite having never driven the car prior to the session.

They joined both Sauber’s and Kevin Magnussen, who set an identical time to Sergio Perez, but was eliminated courtesy of having set the time later than the Force India driver.

Result: Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying