Nico Rosberg will start on pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix after teammate Lewis Hamilton’s final lap was ruined due to yellow flags in the second sector.
The German was very fortunate after setting a slow first sector but managed to put together a strong final sector to take pole position at the Hungaroring.
Daniel Ricciardo will start third ahead of teammate Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Carlos Sainz will start a joint career-best sixth ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who spun on his final lap in Q3 and Jenson Button in eighth. Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10.
Heavy rainfall it the Hungaroring circuit in the build-up to qualifying meant all of the drivers began Q1 on the full wet tyres.
Qualifying was initially delayed for 20 minutes to allow conditions to improve and make it safer for the drivers.
Williams’ Felipe Massa led the pack out ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
The Force India duo made the most of the clear track to first and second ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.
With 13 minutes of the session remaining, the second of four delays in Q1 occured. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson crashed at Turn 8. Qualifying got back underway 10 minutes later but once again was halted after Massa crashed at the exit of Turn 4.
The final six minutes saw the remaining drivers head out on the intermediate tyres as conditions continued to improve. A fourth red flag period occurred after Manor’s Rio Haryanto crashed at Turn 10 meaning the both Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer could not improve on their initial times and fail to progress into Q2.
Palmer, Massa, Magnussen, Ericsson, Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto all failed to make Q2.
The second part of qualifying began on the intermediate tyres. Ricciardo led the way after the initial laps were completed ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Rosberg.
Bottas the first man to change over to the slick tyres but the rest of the field soon followed the Finn.
The last few minutes were frantic with the order changing continually. Verstappen led the way from Rosberg, Ricciardo, Alonso and Hulkenberg.
Hamilton got through to Q3 by the skin of his teeth, ending Q2 in 10th after making a mistake at Turn 1.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was unable to make it through as he was the first to set his flying lap and had the worst of the track conditions.
Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat, Perez, Raikkonen, Esteban Gutierrez and Felipe Nasr all failed to make Q3.
The pole position shootout was completely dry with all the drivers setting their fastest times on the supersoft tyres.
Hamilton set the early pace ahead of Rosberg, Ricciardo and Verstappen.
Unfortunately for everyone, the final laps of the session were ruined after Fernando Alonso spun in the middle sector resulting in a double waved yellow meaning drivers had to lift off. Rosberg managed to find enough time in the final sector to steal pole of Hamilton.
Rosberg managed to find enough time in the final sector to steal pole of Hamilton. No one else improved due to the yellow flags.
