Hamilton had ‘no idea’ what he needed for pole position

Lewis Hamilton says pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix in soaking wet conditions came as a ‘shock’ to both him and Mercedes having been unable to pinpoint what lap time he’d need to produce in changeable conditions.

After Q1 was held in partly dry and wet conditions, qualifying was met with a heavy rain shower which caused lap times to jump as the track rapidly changed.

Hamilton’s Q3 pole position time of 1m 35.658s was around 20 seconds slower than his best efforts in the dry during practice which left him blind for what times he’d need to beat his rivals.

But with Mercedes storming to a front-row lockout ahead of Ferrari and Hamilton taking his 77^th career F1 pole position, the British driver says his feat was met with shock and relief.

“I had no idea in qualifying what was going to be needed for pole position and as I went into that last lap I knew I had to put together a huge sector and really pull something special out,” Hamilton said. “The car felt good and the lap started out well but the tyres were cold so not good for another lap but it was all about making compromises.

“Collectively I think it was a very good lap, particularly the last sector, I don’t know how it is on the sector times but that is where I felt I made the difference and it was just about my patience and about positioning on the track. I couldn’t be happier with it.

“This is quite a shock really as I didn’t expect to be here so I am very grateful for today. I think I was four-tenths behind Kimi at the time [of his final lap], and then Valtteri pushed ahead of me so he went on pole.”

Hamilton also conceded the second row was likely to be his best target if qualifying had been held in dry conditions having seen Ferrari dominate the practice sessions.

“To get a 1-2 particularly when we knew we probably would not get pole here in the dry,” he said. “The Ferrari were just too fast so we focused on doing the best job we could and maybe lockout the second row.

“To have us in this position is such a blessing for all of us and we can’t take the opportunity for granted as we’ve got a race and we need to try to keep them behind.”