Sebastian Vettel unleashed the pace of the Ferrari on Saturday in Budapest as he claimed a commanding pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix, leading Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari 1-2.
The German moved to the top of the times in Practice 3 in the morning, setting a new lap record in the process and would go onto to lower it again and again in qualifying, eventually setting a 1:16.276s, 2.2 seconds faster than the previous lap record at the Hungaroring.
Further highlighting his advantage over the field, that came on Vettel’s first run in the top 10 shootout with his second attempt just 0.002s slower. Kimi Raikkonen appeared way off his teammate’s pace initially but produced a stellar final lap to jump up to second and make it the third all-Scuderia front row of the season and less than two tenths behind the four-time world champion.
Mercedes would have no response with Valtteri Bottas a quarter of a second behind in third and Lewis Hamilton would struggle with vibrations in his tyres throughout the session before making a mistake on his first run in Q3. That left the Briton under pressure for his final attempt and a poor final sector would see him only fourth fastest.
Red Bull was unable to capitalise as they had both cars around a tenth slower with Max Verstappen just beating Daniel Ricciardo in fifth and sixth places.
Nico Hulkenberg would lead the midfield for the second straight race, further highlighting Renault’s progress in seventh, unfortunately, a gearbox change means a five-place grid drop for 29-year-old, dropping him down to 12th.
The big beneficiaries are McLaren as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne continue to maximise the British team’s potential around the twisty layout to secure what will be the fourth row on the grid for Sunday’s race.
Carlos Sainz will start ninth for Toro Rosso with Jolyon Palmer just missing out on Q3 for the second straight race and finishing a second slower than his teammate, but benefitting from his penalty to take 10th in the second Renault.
Force India failed to move up from their positions just outside the top 10 in practice and will face a challenge to continue their points run with Esteban Ocon 11th and Sergio Perez 14th.
Daniil Kvyat couldn’t match his teammate as the Russian was 13th ahead of the aforementioned Mexican. Haas’ difficult weekend continues as Romain Grosjean was 15th and Kevin Magnussen was knocked out in Q1 despite having matched the 15th best time as the Dane had to settle for 16th.
The two Williams’ and two Saubers would complete the grid with Lance Stroll only 0.007s behind Magnussen in 17th. Pascal Wehrlein was a huge seven-tenths behind the Canadian in 18th, showing how poor the Swiss team are.
A returning Paul di Resta would split the Hinwil-based cars as the former Force India driver replaces an unwell Felipe Massa, who was forced to end his participation this weekend after suffering dizziness and sickness after practice on Friday. Marcus Ericsson completed the grid.
