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Lewis Hamilton aims to cap dominant Hungarian GP with win

Hamilton in line for record fifth Hungaroring victory on Sunday after dominant pole position over Rosberg; Word champion has topped every track session so far this weekend

Lewis Hamilton
Image: Lewis Hamilton will break Michael Schumacher's all-time Hungaroring record with a fifth win

Lewis Hamilton is aiming to complete a perfect weekend with a record fifth Hungarian GP win on Sunday on the back of what he has described as his "best qualifying session of the year".

For the ninth time in 10 races this season, and the fifth time in his F1 career at the Hungaroring, Hamilton will line up at the head of the grid on Sunday having topped all six track sessions to date this weekend.

His latest pole places the Briton in the perfect position from which to go on and attempt to extend his 17-point championship lead over team-mate Nico Rosberg, who starts second, before F1's three-week summer break begins.

Hamilton’s pole-winning margin over the sister Mercedes was half a second, the largest since the first race in Australia, and the world champion admitted he had been particularly pleased with his performance.

"Qualifying was a very smooth session. Definitely the best qualifying session of the year, for me, which is great to see improvement," he said in Mercedes’ press conference on Saturday evening.

"I think Nico had a few mistakes throughout the session and on his last lap lost a bit of time in the second to last corner. Seeing the gap is a good thing but ultimately it doesn’t matter – being pole is what you’re targeting.

"[The race] is going to be tough."

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Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton says he's not worried about getting a clean start at Sunday's Hungarian GP after qualifying on pole.

Having lost the intra-Mercedes qualifying duel to Rosberg last season by a 12-7 margin, Hamilton has re-established his superiority over a single lap on Saturdays in 2015 and his 47 career poles place him behind just Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna on the all-time list.

"That was a goal coming into this year. I had a fantastic season [in 2014] and going into this year [I was thinking] ‘how am I going to improve?’” Hamilton explained.

"It’s hard to improve when you’re at the top of your game, but to then raise it again is not easy at all. Getting there is incredibly tricky but then once you’re there to raise it again is incredibly tough.

"So trying to figure out how to do that this year has been a challenge I’ve enjoyed. Qualifying has been good, particularly my first run in Q3 which has really given me those pole positions.

"Particularly in the last race [in Britain] I had a very messy Q1, Q2 and the last lap in Q3 wasn’t that great so my goal this weekend has been really to get that consistency through practice and then take it into qualifying and get solid laps in.

"And every lap was solid – there wasn’t one lap that maybe wasn’t good enough. So it’s an accomplishment and one I want to take on for the rest of the year."

Hamilton’s fifth pole in Hungary places him just two behind Schumacher’s benchmark at the twisty track, but he can surpass the legendary German’s mark of four races win if he triumphs again on Sunday.

The Briton, while downplaying the suggestion that it is particularly tough to string a complete qualy lap together around the tortuous circuit, admitted he enjoyed its technical challenge.

"I don’t think it’s more difficult. It’s a track where you go above the tyre working range from Turn Two, Turn Three the tyres are already over their temperature. Then they follow one after the after so perhaps that makes it a little bit trickier," he said.

Lewis Hamilton in action in Hungary
Image: Hamilton has been unstoppable around the Hungaroring so far

"And that’s just probably why I like this track so much, because it is very, very tricky. It’s not an easy straightforward all flat-out circuit. It’s bumpy, it’s got some really good bumps.

"Bumps that add character and you have bumps in certain places which if you catch the wrong way it snaps the car into oversteer or locks the tyre."

In addition to the prospect of becoming the Hungarian GP’s victory holder, Hamilton can also match another significant F1 milestone on Sunday – the 80 career podiums of Ayrton Senna.

And although he attempted to play down its significance, Hamilton conceded it was "neat" he was starting to approach his childhood hero’s numbers.

"Statistics I don’t really ever think about," he added. "It’s kind of neat to be in amongst an area of what Ayrton achieved because when I was a kid I always wanted to emulate him. To say that I’m on par to do that is quite neat."

Should Hamilton, on a run of 16 consecutive top-three finishes, duly claim his 80th podium in Sunday’s then, like Senna, he would have hit the mark in his 158th F1 start.

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