02/08/2008
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton has achieved his fourth pole position of this season by using Bridgestone's soft compound Potenza to go fastest in qualifying at the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix, round eleven of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
Hamilton's lap time – a 1min 20.899secs - was over two tenths of a second quicker than that of his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who was second fastest, also using the soft tyre. Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica set the third and fourth fastest times.
Timo Glock achieved his best qualifying result of the season by going fifth fastest and Kimi Raikkonen will start alongside him. Fernando Alonso qualified in seventh with Mark Webber eighth. Jarno Trulli and Nelson Piquet were the final two drivers to qualify inside the top ten.
In the morning practice session Hamilton topped the times with a 1min 20.228secs lap, set on the super soft compound. Hamilton was over three tenths faster than Massa, with Glock the third quickest. Weather conditions were hot and dry all day. Today's fastest lap time, a 1min 19.068secs, was set by Massa using the soft compound in Q2.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for his second pole position in a row and second pole position in Hungary. We must also congratulate Timo Glock for his best qualifying of the year, especially coming after his accident in Germany. When the cars were lighter, in Q1 and Q2, the super soft compound was generally the faster tyre. However, when the cars were heavier in Q3 the soft tyre seemed to be faster and gave a better feeling to the drivers. The circuit has improved further so tomorrow it will be very interesting in terms of tyre strategy. Both compounds deliver good lap times and the wear rate, even of the super soft, is good, meaning that many different options are possible.