Motorsports Mondial
Sebastian Vettel pips the McLaren’s for pole position in Hungary.
Massa out-qualifies his team mate for the first time this season.
Mark Webber only able to take sixth on the grid.
Formula One teams accept Bernie’s deal with Sky.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m19.815s 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m19.978s + 0.163 3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m20.024s + 0.209 4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m20.350s + 0.535 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m20.365s + 0.550 6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m20.474s + 0.659 7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m21.098s + 1.283 8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m21.445s + 1.630 9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m21.907s + 2.092 10. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari No time Q2 cut-off time: 1m23.067s Gap ** 11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m22.256s + 1.994 12. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m22.284s + 2.022 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.435s + 2.173 14. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m22.470s + 2.208 15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m22.684s + 2.422 16. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.979s + 2.717 17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth No time Q1 cut-off time: 1m23.285s Gap * 18. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.070s + 2.492 19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m24.362s + 2.784 20. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m24.534s + 2.956 21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m26.294s + 4.716 22. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m26.323s + 4.745 23. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m26.479s + 4.901 24. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m26.510s + 4.932
Photo: gp3series
Luiz Razia powers to maiden pole in Budapest
Brazilian driver takes maiden pole for Caterham Team AirAsia
Luiz Razia snatched his first ever GP2 pole position for Caterham Team AirAsia – also a first for the Malaysian squad, today at Hungaroring in a closely fought qualifying session that saw the young Brazilian go top in the dying minutes ahead of Luca Filippi and Marcus Ericsson.
The excepted thunderstorms were nowhere in sight as the pitlane opened and it was on a dry track and warm temperatures that the thirty minute session started. Already quick in this morning’s free practice, Fabio Leimer was the first one to set the pace in a 1:30.803. But ten minutes into the session two men looked like serious pole contenders: Romain Grosjean claimed the top spot but was edged out seconds later by Razia who bettered the Frenchman’s time by 0.02s.
As most of the drivers re-entered pitlane at mid-session for fresh rubbers, Filippi took advantage of a clearer track to go quickest by 0.2s before making his way back to the pits. When the action picked up again and the drivers went back on track for a last stint, Filippi was sitting pretty at the top of the timesheet, Giedo van der Garde in tow. The Dutchman however was once again stricken by mechanical gremlins and made his way back to the pits at a very slow pace. He rejoined with seven minutes left on the clock, but could not improve. In P3, Grosjean was looking for more but never seemed to find the extra pace on a busy track.
With five minutes left on the clock, Ericsson put his head down and moved up to P2, but it was Razia who eventually found his way to pole position posting a laptime of 1:30.411. On his last attempt, Filippi looked set to improve the Brazilian’s time with a quickest sector 1, but Adam Carroll spun and briefly stopped at Turn 6 prompting a yellow flag and ending the Italian’s hopes.
Razia could finally pocket his first GP2 pole ahead of Filippi and Ericsson. Charles Pic finished P4 ahead of Series leader and title rival Grosjean. Jules Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde, Fabio Leimer, Esteban Gutierrez and Sam Bird rounded up the Top ten.
Photo: gp3series
Valtteri Bottas takes maiden pole
Lotus ART dominate in Hungary
Valtteri Bottas took his first GP3 pole position for Lotus ART after leading the rest of the field for most of the thirty minutes session at Hungaroring today, and confirming he is on fine form following his success last week at Nurburgring. The Series race winner was 0.330 seconds ahead of his teammate James Calado to lock out the front row of the grid for the French team.
The field hit the track on Pirelli’s P Zero slick tyres in warm and sunny conditions for the early morning session. Marussia Manor Racing’s Adrian Quaife-Hobbs was the first driver to break the 1 min 39s barrier to go top of the timesheet in a frantic first few minutes of qualifying as the thirty strong grid battled to find clean air. MW Arden’s Mitch Evans took his turn at the top as did Nico Müller, Antonio Felix Da Costa and Michael Christensen as the times tumbled.
With less than ten minutes gone in the session Bottas once again showed that Lotus ART is the team to beat this weekend. The Finn went quickest with a 1:37.734 laptime and would go unchallenged until the dying minutes of the session. In a carbon copy of Practice 2 yesterday it was Calado who edged closest to his teammate in second, but Bottas responded by going even quicker and making sure that the pole would be his today.
With the front row secured by the 2010 team champions, the battle for third spot livened up the rest of the pack, with Aaro Vainio looking like he would snatch the spot from Tom Dillmann, Müller and Christensen as all four men rivaled to find the extra pace on the busy track. However, after the chequered flag had been waved to signal the end of qualifying Evans flew over the line to snatch third spot bumping the Tech 1 Racing driver to fourth. Christensen will start fifth ahead of Rio Haryanto, Müller, Dillmann, Quaife-Hobbs and Pedro Nunes ensuring all three Lotus ART’s will start in the top ten. Series leader Alexander Sims will start from eleventh.
Photo: f3euroseries
A dominant victory for Roberto Merhi at Spa
Spaniard Roberto Merhi (Prema Powerteam) has won the fourth season round of the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy. The points’ leader scored an undisputed lights-to-flag victory from William Buller (Fortec Motorsport) and Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin). Carlos Muñoz (Signature) came home fourth at the 7.004 kilometres long Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix circuit and was thus the second-best driver from the Formula 3 Euro Series. With his victory, Roberto Merhi extended his points’ lead in the drivers’ standings of the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy.
In qualifying already, Roberto Merhi made a clear mark as he claimed pole position with a margin of over a second. At the start, he remained in front and quickly pulled a gap. After one lap, he was already three seconds ahead of the rest of the field and at flagfall, his margin was almost 13 seconds. Merhi’s team-mate Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam) finished eighth, in spite of activating his fire-extinguisher.
For Marco Wittmann (Signature), things didn’t go as planned in Belgium. In the first corner, he collided with an opponent, he spun and dropped back to the end of the field. From there, he started his recovery that brought him up into eleventh place as the chequered flag was out.
Roberto Merhi (Prema Powerteam): “My start was good, then I just tried to extend my lead. Towards the end, I took it a little bit easier to save my tyres. Of course, I am very happy with this victory at Spa.”
Carlos Muñoz (Signature): “The race wasn’t easy. Due to Marco’s accident, that happened right in front of me, I lost a few places, but I was able to make them up again. Fourth place in the race is all right.”
Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam): “On the opening lap, my fire extinguisher went off and at first, I couldn’t see a thing. Moreover, somebody hit me and I lost a few places as a result, but I was able to make my way up again.”