Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday, leaving his rivals in the dust with a blistering lap.
Hamilton’s time of 1 minute 20.953 seconds was more than four-tenths of a second, a huge margin in Formula One terms, faster than Romain Grosjean posted to take second for Lotus.
For McLaren, Hamilton’s pole is the 150th in their history.
Reigning champion Sebastian Vettel was third for Red Bull on 1 minute 21.416 seconds, ahead of Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button and Grosjean’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
The two Ferraris of championship leader Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were sixth and seventh, while Williams had a strong qualifying session, getting Pastor Maldonado into eighth and Bruno Senna ninth.
Nico Hulkenberg will start 10th for Force India.
Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber failed to make it into the top-ten shootout, missing the cut-off margin by 0.062 seconds in the second session, and he will start 11th.
Mercedes endured a torrid qualifying, with both drivers eliminated in the second session. Nico Rosberg will start Sunday’s race 13th, with his teammate and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher 17th.
Russian driver Vitaly Petrov will start 20th for Caterham after setting a time of 1 minute 24.167 seconds, one place and half a second behind his Finnish teammate Heikki Kovalainen.
Both Red Bulls narrowly escaped dropping into the elimination zone in the first session, with Mark Webber 16th and Sebastian Vettel 17th.
No drivers are serving grid penalties.
Qualifying results:
1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
3. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
4. Jenson Button (McLaren)
5. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
6. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
7. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
8. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
9. Bruno Senna (Williams)
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
11. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
12. Paul di Resta (Force India)
13. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
14. Sergio Perez (Sauber)
15. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
16. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
17. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
18. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
19. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)
20. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)
21. Charles Pic (Marussia)
22. Timo Glock (Marussia)
23. Pedro de la Rosa (HRT)
24. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)
