Nico Rosberg and Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton will start from opposite ends of the Hungarian GP grid after Rosberg enjoyed a clear run to pole and Hamilton’s car caught fire early on during the qualifying session.
Hamilton, who was the clear favourite for pole after finishing all three practice sessions on top, failed to set a time due to a fire on his car just five minutes into Q1.
A fuel leak saw his Mercedes set alight and he attempted to return to the pits but he was forced to stop at the pit lane entry before flames fully engulfed the rear of his car.
“I am absolutely gutted that we have let Lewis down again and given him such a tough job on another Sunday afternoon – so soon after his fantastic drive in Germany,” said Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe.
“We are still stripping the car to understand the cause of the fuel leak but the symptom was a loss of high pressure fuel to the direct injection system of the internal combustion engine. This fuel leak then caused a major conflagration which is likely to have written off most of the car.”
Hungarian GP Q1 not only delivered the shock of Hamilton’s early exit, but also saw Kimi Raikkonen being eliminated. Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado had joined Hamilton on the sidelines when his car stuttered to a halt before the final corner. The four remaining grid slots looked set for the Marussia and Caterham drivers but Jules Bianchi headed out on the option tyres and dumped Raikkonen out after he remained on primes and failed to set a quick enough time.
Raikkonen had been showing renewed pace during the practice sessions ahead of the Hungarian GP, where he has six podiums and a race win to his name, but he’ll be starting from 17th place on a track known for limited overtaking opportunities. Raikkonen has said that he did not agree with Ferrari’s decision to keep him in the garage and save a set of softs, a gamble which backfired in a colossal fashion.
Raikkonen said that he could have over-ruled the team, “but I trust in the team, believe in the people. The plan was to go out, but the team said ‘no, you are fine, you do not need to go out’. I questioned it a few times, but they said no need and we can see the end result.
“I cannot always go against advice. We are here as a team, we make decision as a team, and today the outcome was this. As a team in Formula One, as Ferrari, we should not be doing these kind of things. None of us are in our first year. It’s not good for me or the team.”
Raikkonen added that he won’t be fretting over the judgement error for too long. “A mistake has been made. It’s already been a difficult year, so I don’t see the point to shout. The mistake is done. I’ve made mistakes in the past, I will make them in the future. People make mistakes, but there are things we have to change to improve. These are not easy times.”
Compared to Q1, Q2 was a pretty tame session. Daniil Kvyat seemed set to make it through to Q3 but spun at turn 12 on his final hot lap and dropped to 11th. The Russian was unable to recover and climbed out of his Toro Rosso.
Adrian Sutil made it up to 12th in his Sauber, while Sergio Perez finished 13th after he only only managed one run due to a hydraulics problem. Esteban Gutiérrez, Romain Grosjean and Bianchi completed the Q2 eliminations.
Although Rosberg’s main rival was no longer in contention, rain during Q3 made the task a little more challenging and set the scene for a thrilling battle with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
Rain arrived just as Q3 began and all of the frontrunners started on Option tyres as Rosberg led them out onto the track. He locked up into the first corner and ran straight on as the rain intensified. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, who was behind Rosberg on the road, made a similar mistake but was unable to avoid a pretty heavy impact with the tyre wall. Team mate Jenson Button also ran wide and the session was red flagged, before anyone had set a time, to recover Magnussen’s McLaren.
When the Hungarian GP qualifying resumed after an 8 minute delay, the rain had eased up a little and with the track drying, everyone headed out on slick options. Rosberg posted the first time but his lap was soon beaten by Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas.
Vettel then stormed his way to the front of the Hungarian GP grid, with a 1:23.415 – eight tenths faster than Bottas. But Rosberg reclaimed the top spot with a 1:23.236. Bottas improved to go second, but remained narrowly behind Rosberg.
On the final lap, Vettel inched his way ahead of Rosberg but Nico responded with a time that was 0.486s quicker and claimed his sixth pole position of the season. Bottas will start the Hungarian GP from third place on the grid, ahead of Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Felipe Massa qualified sixth for Williams, ahead of Jenson Button and Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne. Nico Hulkenberg finished the session in ninth, while Magnussen rounded out the top 10 after his accident.
The Hungarian GP gets underway tomorrow afternoon at 2pm GMT+2. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live commentary and chat before, during and after the race.
Your full timing screen for the Hungarian GP qualifying, is below.
