Hamilton edges Vettel for Hungaroring pole position

Britain' s Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) edged reigning F1 champion Sebestian Vettel (Red Bull) of Germany with a time of 1:19:338 on Saturday for the pole position ahead of Sunday' s Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring near Budapest. Hamilton, who has won the Hungarian Grand Prix three times (driving for McLaren), twice from pole position, said he was actually surprised to have beaten Vettel, whose 1.19:506 was amazingly fast. "Sebestian might have made an error in the fast round," he added. Hamilton has not finished higher than third this year and he trails leader Vettel's 157 points by 58 points. He started on pole in Germany on July 7, but finished 5th. Vettel, who finished second, has never won at Hungaroring. Nonetheless, observers say he is the man to beat, having won two of his last three races. "I was satisfied with my performance but Lewis was better," he said acknowledging that he may have lost a few hundredths of a second in mid-track. Hungaroring, which has 14 corners, holds the reputation of being a tough track to pass on, but over the 27 F1 races held on it the pole position starter only won 11. The track itself is 2.72 miles long and the race is 70 laps. It has been a favorite of legends such as Michael Schumacher and Nigel Mansell. Romain Grosjean of France, driving for Lotus, came in third after finishing third in the first qualification round and fourth in the second. Ferrari' s Fernando Alonzo, who is in second place overall with 123 points, trailing Vettel by 34, took fifth place behind Nico Rosberg (Germany) of Mercedes, Hamilton' s team-mate. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) the second Lotus driver, finished 6th. Vettel' s Red Bull team-mate, Mark Webber of Australia, was fighting engine problems and finished 10th. Major concerns for all were untested tires after Pirelli yanked the ones used earlier in the year following tire shredding in Spain and four blowouts in England. Both the medium and the soft tires ran well at Hungaroring but concerns remain, given that the temperature on Sunday may exceed 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) and the temperature of the track itself is likely to be near 50 degrees Celsius. Sunday' s race will be the 10th of the season, marking the halfway point. From: XINHUA