Lewis Hamilton put himself in the best possible position to claim a hat-trick of consecutive wins after securing pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Brit sealed a sensational one-two for McLaren with a fantastic lap to line up alongside the Finn Heikki Kovalainen.
Hamilton continued his brilliant pace from the practice sessions to grab his 10th career pole position as the Woking outfit enjoyed a clear advantage over their Ferrari rivals.
Indeed the Italian team never appeared likely to spoil the serene progress from Hamilton, and Felipe Massa will start in third. Another lacklustre performance from world champion Kimi Raikkonen left him facing another difficult race in sixth.
To fully understand just how confident Lewis Hamilton was, one must admire the fact that he set just one flying in the first two qualifying sessions, such was the young Brit's confidence in his pace. He then had a good enough time for pole position after just one lap in Q3, but set one more lap for insurance.
Kovalainen moved to within three 10ths of a second of his teammate, and Ron Dennis has assured the fans that Heikki has every chance of winning the race, insisting that there have never been team orders and never will be.
BMW Sauber will once again be led by Robert Kubica, who managed to secure fourth on the grid with a solid final lap in Q3. Unfortunately, his teammate Nick Heidfeld will start in a disappointing 15th position after been blocked by the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais.
The German, needing to find more pace to be sure of his place in Q2, felt he was impeded by the Frenchman as he came around the final corner. This distracted him, forced him onto the gravel, and hindered any chance of making the next session.
The usually unflappable German was visibly frustrated by what he saw as an injustice and gesticulated with his hand wildly as he crossed the line. His anger continued to surge when he found that other drivers had improved their times and made the next session, meaning he missed the Q1 cut for the first time since this scheme was introduced.
Bourdais did eventually qualify in 14th place, but the FIA decided that he deed impede Heidfeld and handed him a five place grid penalty. As a result, he will now start in 19th.
Toyota’s Timo Glock had a fantastic session on his way to fifth place, and felt that he was unfortunate not to be on the front row of the grid. The German was still extremely happy with his career and his place on the grid.
Behind the top six, Renault continued its promising pace with seventh place for Fernando Alonso and 10th place for Nelson Piquet. The Renault pairing will be pleased that they can look ahead to the race with immense optimism.
The pairing will be sandwiched on the grid by Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who secured eight, and the other Toyota of Jarno Trulli, who will be happy to start the race in ninth in what looks to be a very good weekend for the Japanese team.
Scuderia Toro Rosso star Sebastien Vettel looked on course for a third consecutive top 10 berth, but he had to settle for 11th place. Yet another brilliant performance from the Red Bull-bound German.
Jenson Button will start alongside him in 12th place after a phenomenal lap in which he managed to find a whole 0.8 seconds. It was a super-smooth final run in Q2 for Button, and it was unfortunate he was not in Q3.
His surprise performance pushed David Coulthard down to 13th place, where he will start alongside Nico Rosberg. Rosberg was closely followed by his teammate Kazuki Nakajima, who will start in 16th behind Nick Heidfeld. Both now realise that they must find some pace, and soon.
Rubens Barrichello could not replicate the brilliant pace of his teammate and had to settle for 17th position. He was closely followed by the Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella, and embarrassingly for him his 18th place is one of his best performances this season.
As noted earlier, Bourdais will take his five place penalty and drop from 14th place to 19th. Adrian Sutil will start in 20th, and last, place.
So my prediction for Nick Heidfeld was slightly wrong. Okay, that is a massive understatement, I know it is, but I still think that BMW can push this weekend. Perhaps not for victory like I thought, but I see a podium yet again.
Hamilton is on fire yet again and he is setting some stonking times. Many will easily say that Felipe Massa was the fastest, but that was only because Hamilton only set one lap in each session when he had light fuel.
Another awful weekend for Kimi Raikkonen, and not even the shark fin engine cover is doing much. How embarrassed must they feel to be so excited for this new upgrade, when they can only manage sixth with Kimi?
Massa did get third, but he won’t finish there. I can see a McLaren one-two on the cards, but—and this is the killer—I do think that we may see a genuine fight between Lewis and Heikki. Ron Dennis made it clear earlier today that there are no team orders and both drivers will race each other.
I’m pleased to hear that. It should hopefully shut up a few haters on this site that jumped on the Ferrari bandwagon and pointed the finger. How hypocritical can the Tifosi get?
There we have it. McLaren is in the front row and while Ferrari has another bad weekend. But who will take victory in the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix?
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