Hungary – Qualifications: Rosberg on pole, Hamilton on fire and Magnussen in the tires

The clouds are gathering above the Hungaroring circuit. The weather is heavy and stormy.

Q1: Jules Bianchi is the first man on the track. And after less than three minutes, Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus is slowing down and comes to a stop on the grass. It’s already over for the Venezuelan. All drivers are currently on medium (white) tires.

And another mechanical problem for Lewis Hamilton! The Mercedes is on fire at the rear! He manages to enter the pit lane to stop. The marshals intervene, but the car has been heavily damaged. The Briton walks away from his still-smoking car, dismayed by the situation. Mercedes confirms a fuel leak. Nico Rosberg, once again freed from his only rival, takes the opportunity to lead Q1 with a time of 1:25.353, ahead of the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel.

With 6 minutes remaining in the session, most of the drivers have returned to their garages. The battle for Q2 begins with Romain Grosjean exiting the pits on soft tires. The Frenchman gets out of the danger zone. Sergio Perez, who was on the edge, makes a push and clears it. Now it’s Nico Hülkenberg who is in danger. The Toro Rosso cars, taking advantage of the softer tires, reposition themselves: Vergne takes the lead and Kvyat is 3rd.

During the last seconds, Hülkenberg repositions himself. It is now Räikkönen, calmly sitting in his garage, who is in danger. Only one driver can still dislodge the Finn from Q2, it’s Bianchi. And the Frenchman does it! He places his Marussia 64 thousandths ahead of the one he replaced for the Silverstone private testing!

Eliminated in Q1: Räikkönen, Kobayashi, Chilton, Ericsson, Hamilton, and Maldonado.

Q2: Perez is the first to hit the track, on soft tires. He sets a time of 1:25.211, the first benchmark, although a hydraulic leak later ends his session. Quickly, the Williams cars move to the top before conceding to Rosberg’s surviving Mercedes which clocks in at 1:23.310. Vettel and Ricciardo, in that order, fall short by three-tenths of a second from the German.

5 minutes before the end of the session, no one is on track. Really no one. It’s necessary to wait until the last 120 seconds to see everyone come back out, except for Rosberg, the Red Bulls, and, of course, Perez. Bottas consolidates his 4th place, Massa takes 5th, Alonso, Button, and Magnussen secure their positions while Kvyat, who was close to making it to Q3, braked on the white line before the chicane and spun out. The Russian is eliminated.

Eliminated in Q2: Kvyat, Sutil, Perez, Gutierrez, Grosjean, and Bianchi.

Q3: Just before the start of the final session, rain begins to fall slightly over the Hungaroring. All the drivers rush to the end of the pit lane, with Rosberg in front of the two McLarens. The drivers are on slicks and the track doesn’t seem very wet. However, Rosberg misses the braking at the first corner, as the track is wet at that spot, and goes straight but without damage. On the other hand, Magnussen, who was following him, isn’t so lucky: his car crashes quite violently into the tire wall, but the driver is unharmed and gets out on his own. The session is then interrupted by a red flag, allowing time to put the tire barrier back in place.

The session is back on, with 9 minutes remaining. It’s Rosberg who leads the pack once again. All the drivers are out with soft slick tires. The Mercedes driver is extremely cautious with a 1:26.488. A caution his competitors don’t necessarily share: Bottas, Alonso, Ricciardo, and Massa move ahead of him, in that order. On his second attempt, Vettel takes the lead with a 1:23.415, but Rosberg puts everyone in their place, two-tenths better than his compatriot.

Two minutes before the end of the session, Vergne takes P5. At Red Bull, they announce rain again at turn 1. Vettel temporarily takes pole position but Rosberg ends up knocking out the competition by putting nearly five-tenths over the time of the four-time world champion. The two men are ahead of Bottas and Ricciardo.

This is the 10th pole position of Nico Rosberg’s career.