Hungary Grand Prix: Qualifying

The talking point in the run up to the Hungarian Grand Prix was the track surface temperature and a few nervous rumblings regarding the Pirelli tyres and the fear that we may have a repeat of the ludicrous events of Silverstone. Nothing materialised in the qualifying session but we will have to wait and see what happens in the race.

The first session was relatively predictable, with the exception of Di Resta's exit. Di Resta's poor fortunate, that saw him drop out in the first session, was a precursor to Force India's turn of luck this weekend. Sutil was knocked out at the end of the second session and the two Force India drivers will find it difficult to achieve much in the race from outside of the top ten. It was McLaren's Sergio Perez who threw up the surprise that bumped Sutil out of the top ten in the final seconds of Q2. He outpaced his teammate, Jenson Button, once again, as Button's woes deepen and the he continues to watch his contention for the title dwindle.

It was yet another Mercedes versus Red Bull fight, in the final session of qualifying. Sebastian Vettel's strategists made a smart move by saving a fresh set of option tyres, for one very quick lap, halfway through the session. Nobody was able to quite match Vettel's earlier time, as the chequered flag flew for each of them. That was of course until Lewis Hamilton put in his final quick lap. He pipped Sebastian to pole and despite Seb's best efforts he was unable to retake the top spot. It was an exciting end to the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, regardless of the familiar result. Will Mercedes race pace continue to improve in to Sunday's grand prix?

Qualifying result:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	01:19.388	15
2.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	01:19.426	12
3.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	01:19.595	15
4.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	01:19.720	16
5.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	01:19.791	15
6.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	01:19.851	17
7.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	01:19.929	15
8.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	01:20.641	14
9.	Sergio Perez	McLaren	01:22.398	16
10.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	no time	13
11.	Adrian Sutil	Force India	01:20.569	17
12.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber	01:20.580	13
13.	Jenson Button	McLaren	01:20.777	10
14.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	01:21.029	12
15.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	01:21.133	15
16.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	01:21.219	13