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In qualifying at the Hungaroring circuit on Saturday, Sebastian Vettel claimed his second Pole Position of the season for the Hungarian GP ahead of his team mate Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas in a session that the battle between Mercedes, Ferrari and even Red Bull entered into its next stage.
Vettel led the way in Q1 as well, and was the first F1 driver to lap under 1.17s around the Hungaroring in Q2, before Hamilton made a second run.
Meanwhile Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen snatched a brake at Turn 1 on his first run in Q3 so was down in fifth, but he improved dramatically on his second run to leap to second place.
Vettel's championship rival Lewis Hamilton went off at the fast Turn 4 on his first run in Q2 and did so again in Q3. He struggled for grip throughout the session, complaining of vibrations through the tyres and ended up nearly a second off the pace.
The surprise of the session was Williams' emergency stand-in driver Paul di Resta who outstandingly split the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson to qualify 19th for his first grand prix since 2013.
Di Resta achieved this despite not having driven a 2017 F1 car before, and only turning his first laps of the weekend in qualifying after Felipe Massa fell ill in final practice.
Di Resta gradually worked down to a time 0.766s slower than Stroll, only 0.029s slower than Wehrlein, and over a tenth clear of Ericsson. Williams rightly called this a “fantastic job” in difficult circumstances.
But it was Sebastian Vettel who claimed Pole Position for the Hungarian GP with a lap time of 1:16.276 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in second place who was 0.168 seconds behind him and ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place who was 0.254 seconds behind Vettel.
Lewis Hamilton qualified in fourth place ahead of Max Verstappen in fifth place, Daniel Ricciardo in sixth place, Fernando Alonso in seventh place, Stoffel Vandoornein eighth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in ninth place and Jolyon Palmer who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Esteban Ocon ended the session by qualifying in eleventh place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in twelfth place, Sergio Perez in thirteenth place, Romain Grosjean in fourteenth place and Kevin Magnussen in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Daniil Kvyat ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Lance Stroll in seventeenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in eighteenth place, Paul Di Resta in nineteenth place and Marcus Ericsson in twentieth place.
The classification of Qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP is as follows:-
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.16.276
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.168s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 0.254s
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.431s
5. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.521s
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.542s
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.273s
8. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 1.618s
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.636s
10. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 2.139s
11. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 1.18.495
12. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1.17.468
13. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.18.639
14. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.18.771
15. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, 1.19.095
16. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.18.538
17. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, 1.19.102
18. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.19.839
19. Paul Di Resta, Williams-Mercedes, 1.19.868
20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.19.972
Driving for Pleasure will be covering the Hungarian GP weekend with our race report alongside the latest news.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
