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McLaren on top for Hungaroring

Budapest, Hungary - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton showed a masterful style in Hungary today to top all three qualifying sessions and take pole position for the 2012 Hungaroring F1 GP on Sunday.

Second was Romain Grosjean on 1min21.366 and third Sebastian Vettel on 1min21.416

They cars were driving in very different weather than the previous two races with high air and track  temperatures and bright, sunny weather.

'LOT OF WORK TO DO'

Hamilton, who has won twice in Hungary, said later: "It is great to finally see the upgrades working and I have been able to put the car where I want to this weekend.

"We are not saying we are relaxed, we know we have a lot of work to do, starting this weekend."

Vettel said: "Lewis was out of reach today... it's not too bad to start third here. It's been more a case of it being difficult getting everything to work properly.

"The speed is there but it has been a struggle to get the balance. I think with the progress we have made we should be in a good position tomorrow."

FINAL QUALIFYING
1 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1min20.953
2 Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 1min21.366
3 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull 1min21.416
4 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1min21.583
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus 1min21.730
6 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1min21.844
7 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1min21.900
8 Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 1min21.939
9 Bruno Senna (Brazil) Williams 1min22.343
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Force India 1min22.847

11 Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull 1min21.715
12 Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India 1min21.813
13 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1min21.895
14 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Sauber 1min21.895
15 Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber 1min22.300
16 Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso 1min22.380
17 Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 1min22.723 

18 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso 1min23.250 
19 Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Caterham 1min23.576 
20 Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Caterham 1min24.167 
21 Charles Pic (France) Marussia 1min25.244 
22 Timo Glock (Germany) Marussia 1min25.476 
23 Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) HRT 1min25.916 
24 Narain Karthikeyan (India) HRT 1min26.178

FIRST SESSION

Romain Grosjean was first out in the first session to set a 1min27.333 lap but with a braking error and was quickly followed by Kimi  Raikkonen who brought that down to 1min22.689 followed by Jenson Button on 1min.348.

Lewis Hamilton, fastest in both earlier practice sessions, then made it 1min22.371 and shortly afterwards reset the mark at 1mn21.794, followed by Senna and Raikkonen who were still in the 1min22 range.

With less than a minute to go, it was still Hamilton, but with Paul Di Resta and Button now second and third on 1min21.912 and 1min22.028 respectively. As the clock zeroed that was how the first three stood.

SECOND SESSION

Hamilton dominated by a half-second almost from the start of the second session with, towards the end, Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen holding station behind.

Vettel moved up to second with 1min20 to go, making it Hamilton, Vettel and Massa with Alonso running fourth and Raikkonen fifth then suddenly Pastor Maldonado came up to third. As the zeroes show on the timing board and Webber was pushed out of the top 10 on 1min21.751. Both Williams were also dropped.

FINAL SESSION

Kimi Raikkonen set an early 1min22.717 with Hamilton on 1min26.781 behind him, followed by Buttoon. Hamilton dropped it to 1min21.260 with Grosjean now on his tail at 1min21.763, the first two to drop into the 1min21 range.

Button hit third with 1min22.429 with Raikkonen on 1min22.717 with three minutes to go. With 2min30 to go the lineup was Hamilton, Grosjean and Button as Vettel rose to second on 1min21.416 to become only the third driver under 1min22. The clock on one minute to go and still it was Hamilton, Vettel and Grosjean, with Button and Raikkonen fourth and fifth.

Then Maldonado came up to four with another 1min21 time. At the end the lineup was Hamilton who zapped down to 1min20.953.

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2012 Hungarian F1 weekend.
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