Sebastian Vettel claimed his fourth pole in a row and his seventh of the season today, as Red Bull Racing enjoyed probably its most dominant qualifying of the year ahead of this Sunday’s F1 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Following Red Bull’s form in practice, there was little doubt it would be a two-horse battle for top spot at the Hungaroring, and in the end it was Vettel who got the most from his Renault-powered RB6, convincingly beating his team-mate, Mark Webber, by more than four tenths of a second.
Vettel had been quickest in Friday practice, and while he had to settle for second to the Aussie in FP3, he seemed to have the measure of him in qualifying, five tenths up in Q1 – on a 1m 20.417s lap – and only 0.042 seconds slower in Q2. When it mattered though, he really stamped his authority on proceedings and was the only man to break the 1 minute 19 second barrier, his pole lap a 1 minute 18.773 seconds.
Webber’s best in Q3, a 1m 19.184s, meanwhile was also significantly quicker than any of their rivals, with Fernando Alonso ‘best of the rest’ in his Ferrari F10, albeit eight tenths slower on a 1m 19.987s.
Felipe Massa, who was badly injured at this race last season and robbed of victory in Germany last Sunday, came fourth in the sister car, while McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton had to settle for fifth. Crucially though, Hamilton was more than 1.5 seconds off the Red Bull’s, although as McLaren boss, Martin Whitmarsh pointed out he was ‘fastest of the fixed wing cars’, a reference to the ‘flexible’ front wings currently being utilised by both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari.
Nico Rosberg rounded out the top six in his Mercedes, half a second off Hamilton and two tenths up on Renault duo Vitaly Petrov and Robert Kubica. Petrov had a fine session and for the record, managed to out-qualify his vastly more experienced team-mate for the first time this season.
Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa and Williams man Nico Hulkenberg came in ninth and tenth, both managing to edge out Jenson Button, who for the third time did not progress to Q3 and the shoot-out for pole. Button will start eleventh in his McLaren.
Fellow F1 world champion, Michael Schumacher also didn’t make it through the second session, and he was only fourteenth in his Mercedes, leaving the Williams of Rubens Barrichello and Force India’s Adrian Sutil sandwiched in between. Further down the order, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari took P15 and P17 on the grid, with Vitantonio Liuzzi 16th for Force India.
Kamui Kobayashi was the ‘fall-guy’ in Q3 after traffic meant he failed to make it through in the latter stages. The Sauber ace, a scorer in two of the last three races, found himself held up by Bruno Senna on his last flying lap, and pitted when he realised that his time would not be good enough to progress.
Kobayashi joined the expected sextet from the three newcomer teams in bowing out at the first hurdle, although in a change to the norm, Timo Glock put Virgin Racing ahead of arch rival Lotus with a last-ditch lap that proved good enough to topple Heikki Kovalainen from the ‘division three pole’. Jarno Trulli, Lucas di Grassi, Senna and Sakon Yamamoto complete the line-up for Sunday’s grand prix.
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What do you think?
SVettel commented on this article
Saturday July 31, 2010 at 4:59 pm
First Comment!
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SVettel commented on this article
Saturday July 31, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Vettels pole lap was imply unbelievable!
If he carries on at this rate, next year, half of the grid won’t be able to take part due to the 107% rule!
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paul okeefe commented on this article
Saturday July 31, 2010 at 6:16 pm
which team is going to cheat this week
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top gear commented on this article
Saturday July 31, 2010 at 8:46 pm
I love top gear so so so so much
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top gear commented on this article
Saturday July 31, 2010 at 8:50 pm
lewis Hamelton is agreat driver but he doesnt find his chance with mclaren
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kalster commented on this article
Saturday July 31, 2010 at 10:47 pm
it will be the same as last weeks grand prix first corner it’s goodbye vettel
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Ben commented on this article
Sunday August 1, 2010 at 12:09 am
Unless Red Bull trip over their own tails, they will walk this race. No one has come close this wknd
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Ben commented on this article
Sunday August 1, 2010 at 12:30 am
To add to top gears comment, Mclaren are now the third best team and will lose their lead at the top of the standings if whitmarsh doesn’t stop moaning about the red bull “Flexi Wings” rather than focus on his own car
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remember_1776 commented on this article
Sunday August 1, 2010 at 3:32 am
Well Paul Okeefe, given that McClaren is the only team that has currently gained an advantage this year by breaking the rules… I answer your question it stands to be McClaren who will cheat. Although unlikely as hamilton has to pretty much DNF (who else here wouldnt mind seeing that) to lose his championship lead this race.
…and dont even start on Ferrari or RedBull, what Horner did to Webber was wrong but well within his rights as team principle (note how Sutil is running the B spec Force India right now, not just a different wing, and nobody sees any fault) and Ferrari, well they broke the rules but gained no advantage whatsoever given that the 1-2 finish was unchanged and Alonso is out of the championship for all realistic purposes.
As for what Ben says, absolutely mate, Whitmarsh is a joke if he thinks anyone actually wants to develope flexi wings, he just wants the stewards to investigate so he can get the trick tech banned and RB lose their advantage, way cheaper and more effective. Whitmarsh makes me sick.
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EAC commented on this article
Monday August 2, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Vettel is a spoiled baby, a poor sport, an irresponsible loose cannon who is bad for F1. After seeing in two subsequent races since Turkey Vettel continue to prefer to force opponents off the track instead of win by driving well, I can only say that I was tickled pink yesterday that he got that drive-through for daydreaming on the restart. Of course, true to form, it was all the radio’s fault or his crew chief’s fault, or the safety car’s fault — anybody but Little Miss V, whose s**t don’t stink and who must be sprinkled with fairy dust bcz the suits on Speed never had the guts to call the wreck he caused like it was: Vettel obviously turned in before he was clear of Weber; Weber held his line, which he had every right to do, leaving V adequate space to pass on the left. If the situation had been reversed, you know damn well that Little Miss Seb would have forced Weber off track as soon as the cars came even. I root for him to wreck on every lap.
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FeRRaRi & Red LOVER commented on this article
Tuesday August 3, 2010 at 2:11 am
too bad . the Bad luck chased Vettel in this year
_________________________ _____________________
lewis Hamelton I hope that bad luck chasing him in all races
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Marisa R commented on this article
Friday August 13, 2010 at 2:47 am
This was an amazing race to follow! I had never followed the Hungarian Grand Prix until this year. What team does Vettel race for? It’s Red Bull I’m pretty sure. I heard coming up at one of the next races,Mariah Carey and Missy Elliot are performing! LOVE this f1 madness!
P.S. Sebastian is gorgeous!!!
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nick commented on this article
Wednesday August 25, 2010 at 7:49 am
ferrari is better than mclaren again
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Andy Ward commented on this article
Sunday August 29, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Sebcrashtian Vettel couldn’t drive a greasy stick up a dogs arse, he is the kind of driver who will ultimateley cost another driver his life. He is just too much of a hazzard and he does the crashing thing too much.
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