Nico Rosberg claims Pole Position in a distrupted qualifying session ahead of the Hungarian GP

In qualifying for the Hungarian GP, Nico Rosberg set the pace ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo during an eventful qualifying at the Hungaroring.

Before the start of qualifying, a number of drivers had run wide at Turns 4 and 11 during the practice sessions. The FIA warned that there would be a “zero tolerance” policy in qualifying, and if any driver exceeded the track limits at these two turns, as judged by the timing loops installed there, his lap time would be deleted.

The session lasted twice its normal length due to a rainstorm ahead of the start and the challenge of drying conditions throughout, but pole position was decided in an unusual circumstances in the final minute.

Q1 was stopped four times under red flags, lasting nearly an hour before it was curtailed by just over a minute due to the final stoppage. The first red flag flew when a rainstorm hit the already-wet track, making the conditions undriveable and forcing the cars to tiptoe back to the pits.

The second was caused when Marcus Ericsson lost the rear of his Sauber at Turn 8 and slammed into the barriers, but the track was drying by that point and when the session restarted a handful of drivers dared to run intermediate tyres rather than full wets.
Felipe Massa was one of them and lost the rear of the car coming out of Turn 4 as he searched for grip on the exit kerb and was left wanting. He clouted the barriers on the inside, bringing out red flag number three.

The session started again with five minutes left on the clock, but roughly 2. 30 seconds later Rio Haryanto crashed into the same barrier Ericsson hit earlier in the session, bringing one of the longest Q1 sessions in memory to an end. Both Renaults were caught out by the final red flag, failing to set a time when the conditions were at their best, and therefore failing to make the cut for Q2.

Hamilton was the quicker of the two Mercedes drivers on the first attempt in Q3, but as he came through sector two on his final flying lap he encountered Fernando Alonso’s McLaren straddled across the exit kerb of Turn 9.

Hamilton had to back off as a result, meaning he was not able to improve on his first run, but Rosberg was behind him on the track and the yellow flags for Alonso’s spin were just clearing as he exited Turn 8 and entered Turn 9. Rosberg later said he had “a very big lift” when he first saw the double waved yellows on the entrance to Turn 8 but was not concerned by the threat of a stewards investigation.

But it was Nico Rosberg who claimed Pole Position for the Hungarian GP with a lap time of 1:19.965 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 0.143 seconds behind him and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in third place who was 0.315 seconds behind Rosberg.

Max Verstappen finished the session in fourth place ahead of Sebastian Vettel in fifth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in sixth place, Fernando Alonso in seventh place, Jenson Button in eighth place, Nico Hulkenberg in ninth place and Valtteri Bottas who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Romain Grosjean ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in twelfth place, Sergio Perez in thirteenth place, Kimi Raikkonen in fourteenth place and Esteban Gutierrez in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Felipe Nasr ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Jolyon Palmer in seventeenth place, Felipe Massa in eighteenth place, Kevin Magnussen in nineteenth place, Marcus Ericsson in twentieth place, Pascal Wehrlein in twenty-first place and Rio Haryanto in twenty-second place.

The classification of Qualifying for the Hungarian GP is as follows:-

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.19.965
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.143
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.315s
4. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.592
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.909s
6. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.166s
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.246s
8. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.632s
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.858s
10. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 2.217s
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.24.941
12. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.25.301
13. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.25.416
14. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.25.435
15. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 1.26.189
16. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.27.063
17. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1.43.965
18. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.43.999
19. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1.44.543
20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.46.984
21. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 1.47.343
22. Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 1.50.189

Sarah Jones