Nico Rosberg snatched pole position from his championship rival Lewis Hamilton for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix with his final throw of the dice in a dramatic qualifying session.
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The German driver posted a fastest lap of one minute and 19.965 seconds at the session which was stretched to almost two hours due to heavy rain and crashes in the hazardous conditions on Hungaroring circuit, news.com.au reported.
None more so than Fernando Alonso, who spun twice in his McLaren, while Hamilton, Jenson Button – who finished the opening 90-minute session in eighth – and Raikkonen were other high-profile casualties to take unscheduled trips off the track.
“I’m aware he’s done very well and he’s had the win and the podiums”, said the Australian, who beat four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in his first season at Red Bull before the German left for Ferrari.
But the yellow flags cleared and that allowed Nico Rosberg to secure top spot by 0.143s and the 26th pole of his career. “I was unlucky but these things happen”.
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton, however, brushed off the change, saying it “doesn’t make any difference to me” while teammate Rosberg said he did not have an opinion on it. Hamilton missed out on the usual long-runs teams conduct on a Friday afternoon, but will be able to analyse Rosberg’s 15-lap run on the super-softs and a 18-lap run on the softs.
He has triumphed four times at the Hungaroring, sharing the record for most wins at the track with Michael Schumacher. “I’m not really too disappointed”.
Rosberg and Hamilton have been the only two realistic championship contenders as Mercedes have dominated Formula One since the start of the V6 turbo-hybrid era in 2014.
“It was a really challenging qualifying”.
Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were fifth and sixth, with Fernando Alonso seventh for McLaren. The Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10.
The crash prompted a brief red-flag stoppage as marshals repaired the damage to the barriers in a session run in hot conditions with temperatures in the 40s.
Like Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo was also caught out by Alonso’s mistake and had to abandon his lap and settle for third, while Max Verstappen got the timing wrong on his attempt and crossed the line to start his final attempt just after the chequered flag had flown.
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“I had a big lift and I was also slower in that segment than on previous lap so I am sure I will be OK”, Rosberg said.
