Qualy at its best, Rosberg in the right place to steal Hamilton's momentum, while are McLaren really making progress?
Monday 25 July 2016 11:58, UK
Qualy doesn't get much better than this
Four red flags, three crashes, the world's very best drivers fighting against the wretched conditions and a controversial pole position snatched in the final seconds.
It's days like these where qualifying can really be Formula 1's main event.
Rosberg in the right place at the right time
We may have waited much longer than the scheduled hour for its conclusion but the final minute of qualifying did not disappoint. And as ever, it was Mercedes at the forefront of the controversy.
Perhaps Rosberg was lucky but this was exactly the sort of momentum shift the German has been pleading for after seeing his title lead all-but-evaporate.
Many may protest that Rosberg's five 2016 victories have come when Hamilton has been hampered by reliability problems and that's mostly true, but the championship leader has been plagued by misfortune himself in recent races, even being docked a place for something that was out of his control (his gearbox failure in Silverstone).
The 'did he, didn't he' debate on whether Rosberg lifted off sufficiently through the yellow flags, especially when seeing others almost grind to a halt after being alerted to Fernando Alonso's stricken McLaren, will rage on and yes, the German did appear to be a long way down on Hamilton's first sector.
But while Hamilton was forced to slow down having led the train of cars towards Alonso's MP4-31 at Turn Nine, Rosberg, far behind his team-mate, simply had to show he had lifted off. He was in the right place at the right time and we saw a similar situation with Nico Hulkenberg in Austria, where the Force India driver similarly survived a stewards' enquiry.
And what would the critics have said about Rosberg's drive, determination and desire if he had given up on his lap?
Hamilton may have deserved another Hungaroring pole and is still perfectly placed to land his fifth victory, but good luck and bad luck has defined this year's championship. This was another example.
How the stats are shaping up
We're now heading towards the midpoint of the season and with some drivers' futures still not secured, team bosses may be frantically scouring through data to determine who faces the drop. But forget about race-day excuses, their qualifying head-to-head's would probably be a good place to start.
With Rosberg's latest effort he now trails Hamilton by just one pole, while Daniel Ricciardo has stretched his qualifying advantage over Max Verstappen - with the teenager's only intra-team victory coming at Silverstone.
That superiority feels trifling when compared to the situation at Ferrari, with the often unfortunate Sebastian Vettel still 8-3 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn's 14th place at the Hungaroring summed it all up.
There are also wide gaps at Renault, Sauber, Haas and Williams, while Alonso - spinning or not - continues to dominate Jenson Button at McLaren.
Carlos Sainz once again proved his class with sixth place on Saturday and consistently seems to have the pace edge over Daniil Kvyat - but the closest team battle? That has to be Force India.
Sergio Perez may have been one of the drivers of 2016 but in qualifying, it's 6-5 to Nico Hulkenberg.
McLaren progress? Let's not get ahead of ourselves...
By glancing at the final timesheets and noticing that both McLarens made it into Q3 for the first time in 2014, sitting 'pretty' in seventh and eighth, you may be reminded of that popular phrase: 'A step forward...'
But though it is hard to criticise the Woking outfit, the most successful team in the Hungarian GP's history, there is certainly no need to be generous when it comes to praise.
After all, this was a kart-like Hungaroring track full of bends that almost eliminated Honda's obvious power deficiencies, and these are world champion drivers who are experts at the wheel in the wet-dry conditions.
A best points finish of the season is on the cards for McLaren but with Fernando Alonso already aiming for a 2017 title, let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
