Hamilton to start in second in Hungary

By Sarah Holt
BBC Sport at the Hungaroring Venue: HungaroringDate: 29-31 JulySunday 31 July: Grand Prix live: 1205-1525, BBC One/BBC Radio 5 live/online; F1 forum: 1525-1625, BBC Red Button/online; Highlights: 1900-2000, BBC Three/Red Button Highlights - Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel edged out Lewis Hamilton's McLaren to take his eighth pole position of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Red Bull broke a curfew on working overnight to overhaul Vettel's car and the changes helped him get back on top.

McLaren's Jenson Button lines up third ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who out-qualified Fernando Alonso for the first time in 2011.

Last year's winner in Hungary, Mark Webber, starts in sixth for Red Bull.

Hungary Grand Prix - Top three drivers

The main protagonists had been split by just half a second on Friday and it was another close battle in qualifying as Vettel edged out Hamilton by just 0.163 seconds.

"Any one of five drivers could have taken pole position," BBC F1 analyst Eddie Jordan said. "We were served up another titantic battle. Vettel has answered all the critics - he has unbelievable one-lap pace."

A decision by Red Bull on Friday to break with Vettel's car the six-hour overnight curfew, which was introduced by the sport's governing body this year to stop teams working round-the-clock on their cars, seemed to be the key to his improved performance.

The world champion praised his team's hard work, adding: "I felt much more comfortable in the car. I've got my confidence back."

Webber appeared to be getting the upper hand on Vettel after taking pole position at the last two races in Britain and Germany but the Australian was left baffled by his performance in Hungary.

"It's bizarre," said Webber, who was more than half a second adrift of Vettel. "There's no way I could do that lap time, no way. Yesterday it was nip and tuck but today there is a gap. We'll have to look at it."

It later emerged that the Australian's margin was explained by him forgetting to use the DRS overtaking aid at the start of the lap, cutting his pace on the straight.

Lewis Hamilton will start second in the Hungarian Grand Prix

Hamilton had difficulty tuning up for qualifying as a brake problem hampered his preparations in final practice.

After the team switched to a more responsive brake ahead of qualifying, the 2008 world champion unleashed a brilliant first lap in qualifying to set the benchmark.

During the first runs on super-soft tyres, Button, Vettel and Webber failed to close down Hamilton but Vettel found the pace to relegate Hamilton to second place by just 0.163secs in the final flurry of flying laps.

Hamilton looked downhearted after the session but said: "I'm happy we can get some really good points from here. Hopefully we can challenge Sebastian.

"I don't feel that I should have been on pole.

"It was a possibility and we were quick this weekend, and in Q1 we were very competitive and in Q2 but I knew it was going to be very, very close and if I'm honest I knew it was going to be difficult to be ahead of Sebastian.

"He showed serious form. My lap started out well but it didn't finish so well and that's what happens when you put the car on the edge."

Alonso was surprisingly upbeat despite being denied fourth place by his Ferrari team-mate.

"It's OK," said the Spaniard, who was 0.015secs slower than the Brazilian. "Maybe fifth is better than fourth as here it is quite a big difference (in grip) on the grid. Let's hope McLaren can put pressure on Sebastian in the first corner.

"We need to have consistent pace all through the race but it's still very open."

Nico Rosberg will start in seventh for Mercedes ahead Adrian Sutil's Force India and his Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher.

Sergio Perez made it through to the top-10 for the first time but did not set a fastest time after choosing to save a set of super-soft tyres for the race and will start in 10th. Force India's Paul di Resta lines up behind the Sauber.

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2010 - Mark Webber (Red Bull)

2009 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

2008 - Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren)

2007 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

2006 - Jenson Button (Honda)

"I was quite happy with the car and maybe I could have been more adventurous," said Di Resta. "In terms of our long-run performance we should be quite optimistic."

A late run from Williams driver Pastor Maldonado had squeezed Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso out of the first phase of qualifying.

A hangover from the German GP means Buemi will now start in 23rd after receiving a five-place grid penalty as punishment for his collision with Nick Heidfeld's Renault.

"We could not aim for better than 16th but tomorrow with three sets of super-soft tyres I hope I can score points," said Buemi.

An intriguing internal team battle at Team Lotus ended with Heikki Kovalainen edging out Jarno Trulli. Despite being beaten for the ninth time by Kovalainen, Trulli was happier with his car after a new power steering system was fitted to the Lotus.

Qualifying position is deemed to be of even greater importance at the Hungaroring where it can be difficult to overtake.

But this year the moveable rear wing (DRS), Kers power-boost and tyre strategy are expected to help the drivers move through the field.

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Hamilton still positive on title

By Andrew Benson
BBC Sport in Montreal Venue: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, MontrealDate: 10, 11 & 12 JuneCoverage: Sunday - race coverage 1700-2015 BBC One, 5 live, online. F1 forum 1915-2015 Red Button & online. Highlights 1900-2000 BBC Three Hamilton 'on ragged edge'

Lewis Hamilton still believes he can win the world championship this year despite Sebastian Vettel's dominant form.

Hamilton was downbeat after Red Bull's Vettel took pole in Canada, saying: "Vettel's gone, he's on his way, he's very difficult to catch for us."

But hours later, he said: "There's still a long way to go. We're only a third of the way through the season.

"I still feel we can win the world championship somehow."

Vettel, the reigning champion, has a 58-point lead over Hamilton in the championship after winning five of the first six races and finishing second to the McLaren driver in the only race he did not win.

That means Hamilton would have to win two races and take a sixth place without the German scoring a point just to draw level.

But Hamilton is drawing solace from an impending rule change, which will ban so-called off-throttle blowing of diffusers from the British Grand Prix.

Red Bull have been exploiting the technology longer than any other leading team, although it remains to be seen whether any one outfit will be hurt more than their rivals following the change.

Hamilton said: "The great thing is the rules are changing so that might help. But the reality is he has nearly a three-race gap in terms of points.

"That doesn't mean we can't reel him in, but he's had pole position every race until now [Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber actually took pole in the Spanish GP] which you have to assume will continue until at least we get our next upgrades or until the rules change.

"I still feel we can win the world championship somehow, but all these things that are happening in the next months will play into our hands."

Hamilton was talking after qualifying fifth for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix 0.551secs slower than Vettel.

McLaren were not completely sure what had gone wrong at a circuit at which they were expecting to give Red Bull their toughest challenge of the year.

Hamilton said: "We are just very slow this weekend. It appears the other guys have maybe made a step forward.

"I pushed beyond the limit on my lap really because I knew we weren't as competitive as the guys in front.

"My lap was fantastic, it was the maximum I was able to do.

"I don't think I've ever driven the car so hard in my life, I was on such a ragged edge. I think I even touched the wall at one stage.

"I got everything I could from it, with also trying to use the tow of another car because we're so slow on the straight. We're 10km/h, maybe 12, slower on the straight so losing a couple of 10ths on the back straight. It seems the other guys have made a step forward. So it's back to the drawing board."

"We had a little bit of bad news about the car at some stage, which will undoubtedly hamper our race pace, but hopefully not too much."

He added: "We've got the wrong seventh gear here - we're very slow on the back straight. We might be a little bit slower in the race than we usually are, but I am going to be gunning as hard as I can."

The weather forecast predicts a 60% chance of rain during the race, which starts at 1800 BST on Sunday and is live on BBC One and this website for UK users.

Whitmarsh wants rain

Hamilton said: "I don't mind [which weather we have]. I love a dry race here, and I think it would be great for the fans.

"However it would be great if it was dry at the start and then rains halfway through."

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh said he believed the team had a car with too much drag - although he was careful to avoid saying explicitly that he felt the team had run too much downforce.

"We're not as quick as we should be on the straight," Whitmarsh said. "In my view, we've got too much drag here. If it's wet tomorrow it won't be as big an issue. [Also] several cars have a more powerful DRS than us, and in qualifying that is an advantage."

The DRS is an overtaking device that boosts straightline speed. Its use is limited in the race but free in qualifying and practice.

"The set-up we have is better for wet than it is for dry," Whitmarsh said. "If we had a smaller wing we might have been trying it this afternoon. But we didn't. So I think there was a difference of opinions."

Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button, who qualified seventh, added: "I don't really know if we have more downforce than the cars in front.

"I think Red Bull have a new rear wing here that has a different DRS that is giving them better straight-line speed.

"I think the Ferrari has got another engine mode they are using for qualifying. Ferrari has a very good DRS and so do Mercedes.

"In the race it all comes back to us. We don't use DRS [as much], you don't use the engine modes some people use in qualifying.

"So we will have a much better car tomorrow compared to our competitors. I don't think we'll have more downforce, but we'll be much more competitive."

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