Hungarian GP: Great qualifying performance from Williams

After a very encouraging final practice for the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix the Williams F1 team would be looking to get both their drivers into the final period of qualifying. Bruno Senna was fourth fastest while team-mate Pastor Maldonado was just outside the top ten. So far this season Pastor had out-qualified Bruno by 8 to 2 but Bruno was looking very strong in the lead-up to qualifying. Given the tight and twisty nature of the Hungaroring circuit qualifying takes on even more significance.

The opening twenty minute period would commence under fine and dry conditions. Traffic would be a problem on this circuit as we had Grosjean leave the pit lane first running on the medium tyres. There was not a rush of cars coming out but after a further minute we would have both Torro Rosso cars, Di Resta, and Raikkonen take to the track. Grosjean would start his flying lap as more drivers came out including Massa, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Bruno, Vettel, Rosberg, and Pastor. The track was now very busy as Grosjean set a 1m:27.333. We only had both McLaren and Caterham tyres in the pits as we had Raikkonen fastest with a 1m:23.273. Grosjean was now third as Vergne had move dup to second. Di Resta was fourth as team-mate Hulkenberg moved up to second with a 1m:24.269.

Di Resta was now second, 1m:23.676, with Ricciardo fourth followed by Perez and Vergne. Grosjean was now third, 1m:23.899, but Hulkenberg would move back up to second. The medium tyre was the tyre of choice as we had Alonso fifth, 1m:24.173. Raikkonen would improve with a 1m:22.689 while for Williams Pastor was now third with a time of 1m:23.450. This would become fourth as Button moved up to second, 1m:23.348. Bruno was on a quick lap going fastest in sector one. Both Torro Rosso cars would pit as Massa went second fastest with a 1m:23.123. Bruno would finish
with a 1m:23.206 to be third.

Those not making the cut were Ricciardo, Kovalainen, Petrov, Pic, Glock, De la Rosa, and Karthikeyan. The top ten was Hamilton from Di Resta, Button, Rosberg, Alonso, Perez, Hulkenberg, Massa, Raikkonen, and Bruno in tenth. Pastor was in twelfth seeing both Williams cars make it into the second period. But could they both make it into the final period?

After a short break we would have the second fifteen minute period commence with Schumacher out first followed by Rosberg. We would also have Massa and Hulkenberg come out followed by several other drivers. It was soft tyres for
Schumacher while for Williams Bruno would be first out as Schumacher set a 1m:30.813 and Rosberg a 1m:30.686 to be fastest. Massa was fastest with a 1m:21.951 but Hulkenberg would go faster with a 1m:21.906. Button was now fastest
with a 1m:21.880 with many drivers using used soft tyres. Only Vergne was still in his pit with ten minutes remaining.

Massa would pit as Vettel moved up to fourth as Grosjean went fastest with a 1m:21.854. Vettel was on the used soft tyre as Alonso went sixth, 1m:22.217. Webber would take sixth as Raikkonen went fastest with a 1m:21.614 running on
new soft tyres. Bruno was down in thirteenth with a 1m:22.673 and Pastor sixteenth with a 1m:32.093. Perez was now eighth as Bruno improved to be tenth with a time of 1m:22.275. Webber was now second with a 1m:21.844.

Hamilton was on a new set of soft tyres setting a 1m:21.060 to be fastest by over half a second. Both Lotus cars had pitted while Pastor was down in sixteenth with a 1m,:23.066. Vergne was out on the track and yet to set a time. On their first runs both Williams drivers were on used soft tyres. Vergne would go thirteenth fastest as Schumacher came back out. Both Bruno and Pastor had pitted with Hamilton fastest from Raikkonen, Webber, Grosjean, Button, Hulkenberg, Massa, Vettel, Perez, and Alonso in tenth.

Bruno was now eleventh and Pastor seventeenth as the track again became quite busy. Massa would improve to be second while Alonso moved up to third. Two minutes remaining and both Williams cars were outside the top ten. Rosberg would move up to eighth while Button would go fifth. Vettel was now second with a 1m:21.407 as both Williams cars were on quick laps. Bruno would finish his lap to be eighth, 1m:21.754. Pastor was even better to be third with a 1m:21.504.

The period would come to an end and Bruno would complete his lap moving from eleventh to tenth with a lap time of 1m:21.697. Those not making the cut were Webber, Di Resta, Rosberg, Perez, Kobayashi, Vergne, and Schumacher. The top ten was Hamilton from Vettel, Pastor, Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso, Button, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, and Bruno tenth. But with Hamilton's pace it was looking very difficult for anyone to challenge him for pole.