Flag fury for Hamilton
World champion misses out on pole to Rosberg after Alonso spin causes him to pull up, reports Philip Duncan
LEWIS Hamilton believes he was denied a certain pole position for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix after the bad luck that blighted the early part of his season returned in dramatic fashion on Saturday. The defending world champ ion, one point adrift of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the title race, appeared on course to claim the 56th pole of his career after blitzing the first sector on his final timed run of a Saturday’s marathon rain-hit session.
But Hamilton was left with no option other then to abandon his shot at pole after Fernando Alonso, ahead of the Briton on track, spun in his McLaren.
It paved the way for Rosberg, courtesy of being one of the last drivers to complete their final run, to snatch top spot for today’s grid away from his championship rival.
While there was controversy over Rosberg’s last-gasp lap – the German only briefly slowed down to acknowledge the waved yellow flags deployed following Alonso’s spin – his effort looked like it would secure him pole.
However, Rosberg was later called to see the stewards and a decision following that meeting is expected later on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Hamilton, despite being magnanimous in defeat, has called for clarification on the rules.
“All us drivers need to fully understand the yellow flag situation because obviously in the way it’s written is not how it’s interpreted by the stewards or the drivers,” Hamilton said.
“For me there was no question I had to lift because Fernando was on the track, but perhaps for Nico the track had cleared but there were still flags. It was just a different scenario.
“I was four-tenths of a second up on Nico so I definitely believe I would have got pole. It was just really unfortunate I had to lose my lap.”
Hamilton, who is bidding to win a record-breaking fifth time here, added: “Nico only lost a 10th of a second through the corner so if that’s really what we’re allowed to do in future on double yellows, we can approach it differently, but I’m not sure that’s the safest approach.”
For Rosberg, he is now in prime position to wrestle the championship momentum back from Hamilton after seeing his title lead slashed from 43 points to just one in the space of five races.
Rosberg, who last week signed a new two-year extension to his Mercedes deal, has never stepped foot on the podium in his 10 previous races here.
“I don’t really think of the past in those ways,” Rosberg said. “I am just looking forward to the race now because of the pole position and I’ve been really feeling good out there the whole weekend.”
A thunderstorm before qualifying contributed to chaotic scenes in the opening phase of the session. Four red flags were issued – one following a further outbreak of rain – and three after Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Massa and Rio Haryanto all crashed out in the tricky conditions. Indeed Q1, which is scheduled to last only 18 minutes, took nearly one hour to complete.
When the sun returned and the track quickly dried out, the Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen locked out the second row of the grid, while McLaren secured their best team performance of the season so far with Fernando Alonso in seventh and Jenson Button eighth.
Meanwhile, Jolyon Palmer will start only 17th after he failed to progress beyond Q1. “Oh, f****** hell, that’s really poor,’’ Palmer fumed over the team radio.
I was up on Nico so I definitely believe I would have got pole. It was just really unfortunate I had to lose my lap