Hamilton gains pole position at Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix
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E-mail Xinhua, July 29, 2018
The defending champion and four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton won the 33rd Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday in Hungaroring in heavy rain.
This qualifying victory was the 5th for the British driver this year and the 77th of his carrier.
Hamilton's Mercedes teammate, Finnish Valtteri Bottas will start on the Sunday race beside him, and in the third starting place will be Kimi Raikkonen, the Finnish driver of Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel was fourth with Ferrari. He is currently second in the driver's standing, 17 points behind Hamilton.
The first 18 minutes of training took place on wet asphalt, but the track became drier, so each competitor was able to run the measured circle with tyres set for dry track.
At the beginning of the second stage of the qualifying race, a heavy rain began, so the whole field completed the laps with rain tyres. This section's big loser was the winner of the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), who can only start from the 12th place on Sunday's race.
In the third stage of the pole position, Mercedes' pilots, ailing in the previous weekend, found themselves in the rain, and Hamilton gained his sixth timing triumph after a big fight.
The Spanish Carlos Sainz (Renault) placed fifth in the qualifying round, and Toro Rosso's excellent results have also been achieved: by Frenchman Pierre Gasly in the sixth and Brendon Hartley of New Zealand in the eighth position.
The qualifying results: 1. Lewis Hamilton (GB, Mercedes) 1m35.658s, 2. Valterri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes) 1m35.918s, 3. Kimi Raikonnen (Finland, Ferrari) 1m36.186s, 4. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) 1m36.210s, 5. Carlos Sainz (Spain, Renault) 1m36.743s, 6. Pierre Gasly (France, Toro Rosso) 1m37.591s
Earlier in the day, Vettel was on top again in final free practice with a new lap record. He competed in a 1m16.170s ride, which had passed the 1m16.276s record he had set up last year.
The 33rd Hungarian Grand Prix begins on Sunday.
