Hamilton strikes in rain to seize pole at Hungarian GP

BUDAPEST: Formula One world championship leader Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday amid thunder, lightning and plumes of spray.

Valtteri Bottas made it a Mercedes front row lockout for Sunday’s race, when conditions are expected to brighten up, with title rival Sebastian Vettel only fourth and behind Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton now has 77 career poles, and five this season, but Saturday’s qualifying went against the odds with the opportunity emerging as the heavens opened.

“It’s great for the team to have a one-two. We couldn’t have expected this,” said the 33-yearold, who leads Vettel by 17 points after 11 races in the battle of four times world champions.

“Ferrari have been quickest all weekend and we were doing our best to catch up, but then the heavens opened and it was fair game.

“It’s so tricky out there, at the beginning it was dry and then it got wetter so it was hard to say how much grip we had.”

Vettel had been fastest in Friday and Saturday practice, with track record times in the hot and dry conditions that left the Mercedes drivers spinning and struggling for grip.

UNLUCKY RICCIARDO

Red Bull had also expected to be in the mix but Australian Daniel Ricciardo, whose win in Monaco raised hopes of a repeat at a track that also plays to the car’s

strengths, failed to make the cut in the second phase. He starts 12th.

Max Verstappen qualified only seventh, with Carlos Sainz and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly fifth and sixth respectively.

Vettel had been quickest in both the first and second phases of qualifying but Mercedes got their timing right when it mattered.