Hungarian Quali Recap: Hamilton charges to pole, Grosjean 2nd

Lewis Hamilton (1:20.953) won pole for the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix in a demanding qualifying session. Though the Briton could not be caught throughout most of the weekend, Romain Grosjean came closest in Q3 to qualify second fastest. Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, and Fernando Alonso completed the top three starting rows.In Q1, both Red Bulls pitted in the final moments when barely outside the knockout zone. Fans watching held the same note of terror that Webber’s radio communication did when confirming. They were safe, but only barely, moving on to Q2.

That session was no better for Webber, as Senna managed to knock the Australian out in the moments after the flag. Nor was Schumacher happy, as he also dropped out in the middle qualifying session managing only seventeenth fastest. Q3 looked to be a typical boring session as drivers saved tyres, but a final rush of laps and times added drama to the proceedings. Still, no one could quite catch Hamilton.

Friday began bright and sunny for the entire F1 field in Budapest, but particularly for Hamilton (1:22.821) and McLaren. Hamilton and teammate Button led the field at the halfway point of the hot and sunny practice and never relinquished their grip on the running order. In fact, the two Britons led the rest of the drivers by a half second in the first proper Friday practice in what seemed like a long time. Only Maldonado got caught in the gravel at the Hungaroring Friday morning, running off after attempting to pass Kovalainen. Alonso, Rosberg, and Grosejan completed the fastest five for the morning.

In the afternoon, things got a bit more hectic. Rain paused the session about halfway through, and though the track dried quickly after the interruption, it became far too damp to attempt any further running on slick tyres. Hamilton (1:21.995) again led the session at the end, followed by Raikkonen, Senna, Massa, and Alonso. Despite the rain, there were few incidents. Grosjean lost a front wing skipping across the wet track at the chicane, running into the barrier.

For the second week in a row, Schumacher also lost his head in the wet, locking up while using inters as the track dried. He went directly into the barriers at Turn 11 and heavily damaged the front end of his Mercedes. Webber (1:21.550) broke Hamilton’s streak by a small margin to go fastest for the Saturday morning practice. The Australian led Hamilton, Vettel, Senna, and Alonso as the fastest five after a dry and sunny hour long session. Few drivers went well off the track and no one had a major incident after early long runs on the medium compound.

Q1:
No one waited to go out as the light turned green for the twenty minutes of qualifying, though Grosjean soon started the session. Di Resta and Ricciardo followed soon thereafter, as did Raikkonen then others. As no rain threatened, there was no huge hurry to get out into the traffic. The sun shone brightly and the track was the hottest temperature of the weekend. Grosjean’s (1:27.333) first time set the benchmark, one which was quickly disposed by his teammate. Raikkonen’s first time was more than four seconds faster than his teammate. Only Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Vergne, Grosjean, de la Rosa, Di Resta, and Ricciardo had set times after five minutes had elapsed, while only the Caterham drivers remained in the garage at that time.

In the hot and slippery conditions, multiple drivers began running a bit off the track. Word had come from the stewards that times would be deleted during qualifying if an advantage had been gained by running outside the track’s boundaries. Alonso’s first time put him only fifth, while the same for both Red Bulls was not fast enough even to make the 107% time. Both quickly moved up to sixth (Webber) and twelfth (Vettel). Button quickly slotted into second fastest, only to be displaced by Massa, Senna, and Rosberg.

Once all the drivers had set a proper time, at the halfway point, Hamilton (1:22.371) led Raikkonen, Grosjean, Massa, Senna, Webber, Rosberg, Button, Hulkenberg, and Maldonado as the top ten. Vettel, Vergne, Glock, de la Rosa, Karthikeyan, Pic, and Petrov were in the knockout zone at that time. Meanwhile, Massa continued to complain of blocking on the radio. Senna continued to stun, moving up to second fastest, just under three tenths slower than Hamilton. Vettel soon scooted up to sixth fastest while Webber went fourth. With seven to go, most of the field had pitted for fresh tyres, though Hamilton (1:21.794) continued to improve his fastest time.

He led Senna, Raikkonen, Vergne (on softs), Webber, Grosjean, Vettel, Massa, Schumacher, and Button as the top ten with five minutes remaining. Alonso sat sixteenth, with Kovalainen, Petrov, Ricciardo, Glock, de la Rosa, Karthikeyan, and Pic in the knockout zone. Multiple drivers were beginning to get going on the softer tyre, just to take advantage of the heated conditions, as the medium tyres seemed to take far longer than usual to get into fast condition. Only Hamilton, Vergne, and Petrov remained in the garage with just three minutes remaining.

Alonso could soon breathe a sigh of relief, moving up to second, then dropped to fourth after fast laps from Di Resta and Rosberg. Soon, Schumacher and Button sat thirteenth and fourteenth, only to have new times switch everyone around. Di Resta soon pitted, as did Rosberg and Alonso, from the top five. As times continued to drop, the Red Bulls slid closer and closer to the danger zone in the heavy traffic. Both pitted from fifteenth and sixteenth, as did Ricciardo in seventeenth. Kobayashi sat eighteenth and began the last lap of Q2. Hamilton (1:21.794) led at the end of the session over Di Resta, Button, Rosberg, Alonso, Perez, Hulkenberg, Massa, Raikkonen, and Senna. Kobayashi managed a quick lap, moving up to fifteenth and dropping Ricciardo, leaving the Red Bulls barely safe.

Knocked Out in Q1:
18. Daniel Ricciardo
19. Heikki Kovalainen
20. Vitaly Petrov
21. Charles Pic
22. Timo Glock
23. Pedro de la Rosa
24. Narain Karthikeyan

Q2:
Mercedes led the way out onto the track for the fifteen minutes of Q2, followed by Massa. A number of other drivers soon followed. Both McLarens and Ferraris went out on the same used tyres they ended Q1 on, looking to conserve some rubber for later in the day and Sunday. Schumacher’s first lap saw a small trip off the track and a terribly slow final sector. He was soon supplanted by Rosberg, then Massa and finally Hulkenberg (1:21.906) went fastest. Button (1:21.880) led five minutes into the session over Hulkenberg, Massa, Di resta, Rosberg, Perez, Kobayashi, Schumacher, and Alonso. They were the only nine drivers to have yet set a time. However, Grosjean soon went fastest of all as Vettel slotted into fifth Alonso to sixth. Raikkonen next showed Lotus’ speed, taking the fast lap from his teammate.

Halfway saw Raikkonen, Webber, Grosjean, Button, Hulkenberg, Massa, Vettel, Perez, Alonso, and Senna the top ten. Di Resta, Rosberg, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Maldonado, Hamilton, and Vergne sat in the knockout zone, the last having not yet set a time. On a fresh set of softs, Hamilton (1:21.060) went to the top of the timesheets, nearly six tenths faster than Raikkonen. Still, he complained of being held up by, he surmised, a Sauber on that fast lap.

Most of the field pitted and rejoined as the final four minutes of the session began. Massa made up position, moving up to second fastest. Teammate Alonso soon joined him, taking third from Raikkonen. Soon, only Hamilton and Vergne remained in the garage. Perez, Senna, Di Resta, Vergne, Kobayashi, Schumacher, and Maldonado all sat in the relegation zone with two minutes remaining, while Vettel sat on the bubble. He soon moved up to second fastest, just under four tenths off Hamilton’s time.

Massa pitted, feeling safe, as did Alonso. Webber dropped down to seventh, then eighth as Maldonado hauled himself up to third fastest. Button pitted in the final seconds from seventh as Hulkenberg moved up and dropped Webber to ninth.Senna’s final lap was fast enough to go tenth, dropping Webber out in the seconds after the flag. Schumacher remained slowest in the session. Hamilton (1:21.060) led Q2 over Vettel, Maldonado, Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso, Button, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, and Senna to move on to fight for pole.

Knocked Out in Q2:
11. Mark Webber
12. Paul Di Resta
13. Nico Rosberg
14. Sergio Perez
15. Kamui Kobayashi
16. Jean-Eric Vergne
17. Michael Schumacher

Q3:
Hulkenberg led the way onto the track for the final ten minutes of qualifying. Button and Hamilton soon followed him, then Senna as drivers trickled out to fight for pole. Hamilton looked ready to go for a single quick run on a brand new set of softs, as Button and Raikkonen did so on used soft tyres. Vettel and the Ferraris sat quietly in the garage as the early minutes of the session ticked away. Hulkenberg aborted his first lap, as both McLarens slowed to post horrible first times. Raikkonen set the first proper-ish time, nearly a second off his own Q2 time.

Only the McLaren and Lotus drivers circulated with five minutes to go, but Hamilton (1:21.260) soon was back to form. He led Grosjean, Button, and Raikkonen. Vettel joined moments later on fresh soft tyres. Meanwhile, both Williams drivers also pitted then rejoined with three minutes remaining, then so did Hulkenberg. Alonso began his only run with just over two minutes to go, with Massa joining his teammate. Vettel moved up to second fastest just as Hamilton went back out. As two minutes remained, the track filled back up with all ten drivers. Senna had a huge lock up into Turn 1, making use of the paved runoff area.

The final minute began with a puff of dust and drivers slowing slightly as Vettel drove through the gravel. He pitted. Maldonado’s first lap put him fourth while Hulkenberg managed only seventh. The Spaniard went fourth on his only lap, with Massa slotting into fifth. Despite woes throughout the weekend, Button managed third. Only Raikkonen and Grosjean remained on the track, ready to post fast laps. Raikkonen managed only fourth, but it was Grosjean who continued to fly around the Hungaroring. Still, he could not catch Hamilton and qualified to start alongside him for Sunday’s race.

Final Qualifying Times for the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix:

	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	1:20.953	18
2.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:21.366	26
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1:21.416	18
4.	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:21.583	22
5.	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	1:21.730	22
6.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:21.844	19
7.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:21.900	19
8.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1:21.939	22
9.	Bruno Senna	Williams	1:22.343	24
10.	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:22.847	19
11.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	1:21.715	17
12.	Paul Di Resta	Force India	1:21.813	15
13.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:21.895	16
14.	Sergio Perez	Sauber	1:21.895	17
15.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	1:22.300	17
16.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	1:22.380	10
17.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:22.723	17
18.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	1:23.250	8
19.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	1:23.576	8
20.	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	1:24.167	7
21.	Charles Pic	Marussia	1:25.244	9
22.	Timo Glock	Marussia	1:25.476	10
23.	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	1:25.916	9
24.	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	1:26.178	11