Hungarian GP Qualifying Was Utterly Bonkers

Qualifying for the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix took almost twice as long as it should have due to a delayed start, following a monsoon-like rain shower just before the session.

We haven’t seen rain that heavy for quite some time and it caused Q1, the first segment of qualifying, to be delayed by 20 minutes. Naturally we had to settle for watching slow-mo shots of the safety car splashing around and rain drops falling.

But when Q1 eventually got started, it didn’t get going for long. We had three separate red flags for crashes, the first was for Marcus Ericsson at Turn 8.

Felipe Massa then clumsily lost his Williams on the Turn 4 exit kerb and spun into the outside wall, destroying the front end of his car in the process. Nice one, Felipe.

We just wanted things to get going again, so the track could dry out and we could see the drivers pushing flat out in the tricky conditions. But no.

Just as the session picked up place again Rio Haryanto lost control of his Manor in a big way entering Turn 9, hitting the wall and causing the final few minutes of Q1 to be abandoned.

There were moments during the stoppages where Force Indias, McLarens and Saubers were all at the top of the timesheets. While that would’ve created a pretty awesome grid, things calmed down as the session progressed.

Q1 usually takes 18 minutes to complete but this time it took an hour. Q2 started on intermediate tyres but the track dried out enough for slicks in the final minutes, although Kimi Raikkonen got caught out with an earlier lap than most and slipped down the order.

He was eliminated from the session in Q2. His reaction? We don’t know, but it’s probably something like “bwoah”.

We saw some great saves and slides in the second segment and this continued into Q3. Drivers seemed to forget the treacherous nature of the kerbs, particularly at the final corner.

Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel had some very close, new-pants-please moments at the exit of the final hairpin and a spin for Fernando Alonso late in the session disrupted a few drivers’ laps.

In fact, ironically after Alonso held Lewis Hamilton up and cost him pole for the 2007 Hungarian GP, the Spaniard’s spin caused Hamilton to back off on his final lap.

He had pole position at the time and had to hope that lap would be good enough, limping back to the pits due to the yellow flags coming out.

But by the time Nico Rosberg arrived on the scene at Turn 7, Alonso had got his car going again. The yellows were still out and you can tell Rosberg lifted slightly, but he still put in a purple second sector.

He put in a great end to the lap and snatched pole position away from Hamilton at the very last second, when everyone else had discounted the fact he could beat his team-mate.

Mercedes boss Niki Lauda insists the data on Rosberg’s car shows he lifted in the yellow flags, but the FIA will probably have to look into the pole lap. We’ll see what happens with that one.

So Rosberg will start from pole position, with Hamilton, Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Vettel, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Fernando Alonso next up.

Q1 seemed to go on forever and there were some great curveballs in Q2 and Q3, as well as some great saves, slides and pieces of driving. It was certainly one of the most memorable qualifying sessions we’ve seen in quite a while. Hopefully the race will be just as exciting!