Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/855205
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 30 JULY 2017 53 FORMULA 1 Sport Hungarian Grand Prix: Sebastian Vettel on pole; Lewis Hamilton starts fourth on grid Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix - and Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari will cruise to victory today Sebastian Vettel is on pole LEWIS Hamilton fell short in his bid to match Michael Schumach- er's pole record after he qualified a disappointing fourth for today's Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton was handed his first chance of matching Schumacher's tally of 68 poles, but he was nearly half-a-second adrift of champion- ship rival Sebastian Vettel who stormed to the front spot on the grid at the Hungaroring. Kimi Raikkonen joins his Ferrari team-mate on the front row of the grid with Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas third. Vettel was cut from even money to 1/2 by Sky Bet following qualify- ing, with Raikkonen being promot- ed to second-favourite at 9/2 and Hamilton next in the market at 8/1. Hamilton, with his father An- thony watching on from the back of the Mercedes garage, ran wide at Turn 4 during his first attempt at pole and had to abandon his lap. It left the Briton with one final go to match Schumacher's record, but after complaining about vibrations on his car throughout Saturday's session, he finished a distant 0.431 sec off Vettel's blistering effort. To make matters worse for Ham- ilton and indeed his Mercedes team, Raikkonen pipped Bottas with his final throw of the dice as Ferrari secure their second front- row lockout of the season. Hamilton, who was the best part of half-a-second slower than Vettel, predicted a gloomy forecast. "It is going to be a breeze for Fer- rari tomorrow," he said. "I don't think there was any moment that we had a shot at pole because we could not match the Ferraris. They have made an improvement this weekend and they deserved it." It was the perfect retort from Vettel, one point ahead of Hamil- ton in the championship race, af- ter he finished a lowly seventh at the British Grand Prix a fortnight ago following a penultimate-lap puncture."It is only Saturday so there is nothing to get from today other than the best position on the grid, but we did that which is great," Vettel said. "The talk after the last race was a bit too much so it was good to deliver the answer on the track." Britain's Paul di Resta was handed his first taste of grand prix action in almost four years af- ter he was dramatically called up to replace the unwell Felipe Massa on the eve of qualifying. Indeed Di Resta, the reserve driv- er for Williams, was told he would be filling in for Massa just 90 min- utes before Saturday's session. The Scot raced at Force India for three years, and tomorrow's race will be his 59th F1 start, but his 11th hour call-up today marked the first time he had turned a Formula One car's wheel in anger since the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix in 2013. Di Resta put a string of com- mendable laps together and quali- fied last but one, and within eight tenths of a second of Lance Stroll in the sister Williams and 2.6 sec off the pace of the leaders. It was an impressive effort from Di Resta given his only taste of this year's faster, more aggressive cars will have been in the team's simu- lator at their Oxfordshire base. Bizarrely Di Resta, 31, had also been due to deputise for pundit Martin Brundle in the Sky Sports commentary box in Hungary. Brundle is absent from this race af- ter he was taken ill moments before the British Grand Prix a fortnight ago. "Excellent job from Paul di Resta from a standing start in qualify- ing in Hungary," Brundle tweeted. "Kept it on the tarmac and a decent lap time. Well done." Massa had been given the all- clear to race by the FIA after he was taken to hospital following complaints of dizziness on Friday night. But the Brazilian had to cut short his run in final practice this morning and completed just 12 laps after falling unwell again. He hopes to be fit for the first race af- ter the summer break at Spa-Fran- corchamps in Belgium. Di Resta's inclusion means there are three British drivers on the grid this weekend. Jolyon Palmer, who is without a single point to his name this season, qualified 11th. Palmer's seat at Renault is under threat, with Robert Kubica, the highly-rated Polish driver who has been absent from the grid since a rallying accident in 2011, to test this year's Renault here at the Hun- garoring next week. Palmer, 26, will be bumped up one spot on the grid after his Re- nault team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, who qualified seventh, was penal- ised five places following a gearbox change. Fernando Alonso celebrated his 36th birthday with one of his best qualifying performances of what has been a torrid year for both the two-time world champion and his under-performing British team. Alonso finished eighth ahead of his McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne in ninth. Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen