Just a week on from Hockenheim, the sport of Formula One made it’s way to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Going into the summer break, Fernando Alonso was leading the championship and hoping to keep his lead there with a good result.
Q1
Romain Grosjean in the Lotus was the first man out on the Hungarian circuit in Budapest, soon followed by Ricciardo and the two Marussia cars starting the session on the softer compound.
Setting the benchmark at the beginning of the session was Grosjean, with a slow time of 1m27.333s after running wide at the first corner and complaining to his Lotus team about having the “completely wrong” brake balance. It wasn’t long before his time was being pushed further down the timing sheets.
The elimination zone was occupied by the likes of HRT, Marussia and Caterham with the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo also appearing in there. The two Mercedes cars of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were also two names that had appeared in the drop-out zone during the session but had just managed to get through to the second session in the end.
Ricciardo took 18th, with 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix winner, Heikki Kovalainen behind him. Next it was Petrov and Charles Pic, who had once again out-qualified his experienced team-mate Timo Glock. Completing the grid was Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan in the two HRT’s.
In the elimination zone at the end of Q1 -
| 18. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 01:23.250 |
| 19. | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 01:23.576 |
| 20. | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 01:24.167 |
| 21. | Charles Pic | Marussia | 01:25.244 |
| 22. | Timo Glock | Marussia | 01:25.476 |
| 23. | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | 01:25.916 |
| 24. | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | 01:26.178 |
Q2
The second session got underway and Michael Schumacher was first out in his Mercedes, and was followed by many who were hoping to get on the pace before the top 10 shoot-out.
Felipe Massa set the initial benchmark at 1m21.951s but like Grosjean in Q1, his time wasn’t at the top of the timing sheets for long. The battle for the top spot was between many, but Lewis Hamilton, after a mistake on his first lap topped the times and stayed there until the end of the session.
After having to change engine mapping, Red Bull’s Mark Webber was one of the bigger names to be eliminated and unable to compete in the top 10 shoot-out. Paul di Resta, Nico Rosberg, Serigo Perez, Kamui Kobayashi, Jean-Eric Vergne and Michael Schumacher also joined the Red Bull driver in the drop-out zone.
It was a close call for some, including Senna, who had managed to make it into the top 10 shoot-out for the first time in 2012, Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean.
In the elimination zone at the end of Q2 –
| 11. | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 01:21.715 |
| 12. | Paul di Resta | Force India | 01:21.813 |
| 13. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:21.895 |
| 14. | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 01:21.895 |
| 15. | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 01:22.300 |
| 16. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 01:22.380 |
| 17. | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:22.723 |
Q3
The fight for pole was underway and Nico Hulkenberg was first man out on track in the 10 minute session. Following him out, the two McLaren’s and Williams cars. It was decided that both the Williams drivers and Hulkenberg would on complete sector times to save tyre wear, whilst the rest were planned to set lap times and commence in a battle for pole position.
Lewis Hamilton was looking strong as he led the session at the halfway mark. Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull was on a charge but couldn’t push hard enough to take the top spot from the British McLaren driver. Romain Grosjean also tried his best to try and put Hamilton under pressure but could only manage enough to slot into 2nd in front of Vettel.
After being on top in Q1 and Q2 Hamilton managed to make his timing of 01:20.953 work and he took pole position for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix in his McLaren. Behind him, equalling his best qualifying place of the season was Romain Grosjean in the Lotus, followed by Sebastian Vettel in 3rd.
Results at the end of qualifying -
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1. | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 01:20.953 |
| 2. | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 01:21.366 |
| 3. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 01:21.416 |
| 4. | Jenson Button | McLaren | 01:21.583 |
| 5. | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 01:21.730 |
| 6. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:21.844 |
| 7. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 01:21.900 |
| 8. | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 01:21.939 |
| 9. | Bruno Senna | Williams | 01:22.343 |
| 10. | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 01:22.847 |
| 11. | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 01:21.715 |
| 12. | Paul di Resta | Force India | 01:21.813 |
| 13. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:21.895 |
| 14. | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 01:21.895 |
| 15. | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 01:22.300 |
| 16. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 01:22.380 |
| 17. | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:22.723 |
| 18. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 01:23.250 |
| 19. | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 01:23.576 |
| 20. | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 01:24.167 |
| 21. | Charles Pic | Marussia | 01:25.244 |
| 22. | Timo Glock | Marussia | 01:25.476 |
| 23. | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | 01:25.916 |
| 24. | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | 01:26.178 |
