Hamilton back in the hunt with Hungary pole

F1 News
Date: 28/July/2012

Lewis Hamilton stands an excellent chance of clawing back lost ground in the 2012 F1 World Championship battle after scoring his first pole in nine rounds on Saturday in Hungary.

Hamilton’s title chances have gone into free-fall since he briefly took over at the head of the standings with his Canadian GP victory, the Englishman dropping 62-points from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in the three races since.

But recent upgrades helped McLaren team-mate Jenson Button get back on the podium last weekend in Germany and Hamilton has been the dominant force all weekend in Budapest.

By contrast, title leaders Alonso and Mark Webber (Red Bull) will start just sixth and eleventh on the grid, respectively.

“It’s been a really positive weekend so far,” said Hamilton. “To finally see the upgrades working this weekend, I’ve been able to put the car in places that I previously wasn’t able to do.

“This weekend we've obviously had the pace so I knew pole was possible, it was just a case of doing it and if I didn't, I would be quite disappointed.”

Hamilton will be targeting his third Hungarian GP victory on Sunday.

“There’s no real secret to victory here,” said the 2008 world champion. “You just have to keep your head cool and look after your tyres. Tyre strategy will be important tomorrow. Degradation will be interesting.

“I just hope for once we have a good start.”

In terms of his closest opposition, Lotus rookie Romain Grosjean finally put a strong qualifying together to claim a career best second on the grid, while Red Bull’s reigning champion Sebastian Vettel and defending event winner Button will form row two.

“I think we know the Lotus is very, very strong on long runs and so is the Red Bull, so we just need to focus on us and really hope we can improve this weekend with those upgrades,” said Hamilton.

“Jenson showed in the last race that it is an improvement, so hopefully I can show the same thing tomorrow.”

Alonso finished third in last year’s Budapest event, behind Button and Vettel. A one month summer break follows Sunday’s race.