Vettel beats Hamilton for Hungarian GP pole

By Christian Hollmann Jul 30, 2011, 13:11 GMT

Budapest - World champion Sebastian Vettel regained his confidence when he pipped Lewis Hamilton for pole position at the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix after mechanics worked into the early hours of Saturday on his Red Bull car.

Vettel clocked 1 minute 19.815 seconds on the 4.381km Hungaroring as he got his eighth pole of the season and Red Bull maintained its 100 per cent record in 2011 qualifying.

The championship leader Vettel tops the grid ahead of last Sunday's German GP winner Hamilton of McLaren, who had 1:19.978 minutes. Jenson Button was third on the second McLaren in 1:20.024.

The Red Bull team worked long hours on Vettel's car after the German had to settle for fifth in Friday practice and missed the podium for the first time in the season in fourth place at the German race.

'I have the confidence back and I am feeling comfortable in the car. I am looking forward to tomorrow,' said Vettel.

'We changed a lot on the car overnight. The boys were working pretty hard and didn't get much sleep. But a result like this is the best way to say thanks.'

Vettel said he did not know exactly what had been changed, but it appeared that part of the changes had to do with the rear wing.

Vettel tops the championship with 216 points from his team-mate Mark Webber (139), Hamilton (134), Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (130) and Button (109).

Vettel has won sixth of the 10 season races but only one of the last four, with Button on top in Canada, Alonso in Britain and Hamilton in Germany. He also failed to get pole in the last races as team-mate Mark Webber took first place on the grid.

Vettel, who got pole in the dying seconds of qualifying, will now hope that the mini crisis is over and for victory in Hungary which will sooth Red Bull's nerves into a four-week F1 summer holiday.

'Everything is fine, the car is very quick,' said Vettel.

Hamilton had the chance for pole in his last flying lap, but two small errors left the 2008 champion in second place.

However, Hamilton and Button - keen for a good result in his 200th GP after not finishing the last two races - are known to be good starters.

'I am pretty happy being up in third. Hopefully we can have a good fight,' said Button.

Hamilton said: 'We knew we had good pace. Today they (Red Bull) seemed to pick up a little pace. But for me and Jenson to be in the first two rows is a good job and I think we can pick up some good points.'

Felipe Massa was fourth for Ferrari while Alonso had to settle for fifth and Webber, last year's winner in Hungary, for sixth.