Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) has achieved his fourth pole position of this seasonby using Bridgestone’s soft compound Potenza to go fastest in qualifying at the Hungaroring for theHungarian Grand Prix, round eleven of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
Hamilton’s lap time – a 1min 20.899secs - was over two tenths of a second quicker than that of histeam-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who was second fastest, also using the soft tyre. Felipe Massa(Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) and Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber F1 Team) set the third and fourthfastest times.
Timo Glock (Panasonic Toyota Racing) achieved his best qualifying result of the season by going fifthfastest and Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) will start alongside him. Fernando Alonso(ING Renault F1 Team) qualified in seventh with Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) eighth. Jarno Trulli(Panasonic Toyota Racing) and Nelson Piquet (ING Renault F1 Team) were the final two drivers toqualify inside the top ten.
In the morning practice session Hamilton topped the times with a 1min 20.228secs lap, set on thesuper soft compound. Hamilton was over three tenths faster than Massa, with Glock the thirdquickest. Weather conditions were hot and dry all day. Today’s fastest lap time, a 1min 19.068secs,was set by Massa using the soft compound in Q2.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development, said:“Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for his second pole position in a row and second pole position inHungary. We must also congratulate Timo Glock for his best qualifying of the year, especially comingafter his accident in Germany. When the cars were lighter, in Q1 and Q2, the super soft compoundwas generally the faster tyre. However, when the cars were heavier in Q3 the soft tyre seemed to befaster and gave a better feeling to the drivers. The circuit has improved further so tomorrow it will bevery interesting in terms of tyre strategy. Both compounds deliver good lap times and the wear rate,even of the super soft, is good, meaning that many different options are possible.”
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