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Hungarian GP Qualifying: Nico Rosberg steals pole from Lewis Hamilton

Alonso's late spin wreaks havoc in Q3; Hamilton forced to slow through yellow flags; Rosberg escapes stewards' enquiry; Red Bull follow Mercedes one-two

Nico Rosberg snatched pole position out of Lewis Hamilton's grasp in controversial fashion at the end of an enthralling wet-dry Hungarian GP qualifying.

On a drying track after a torrential downpour that saw Q1 end an hour after its scheduled finish, Hamilton, who already held provisional pole, was forced to slow down on his even quicker final flying lap in Q3 after Fernando Alonso's Turn Nine spin brought out double-yellow flags.

But with Rosberg's Mercedes further back on the road, the German was not as badly affected as his team-mate and was able to clinch a controversial fourth pole of the season by 0.143s as Hamilton watched on from the pitlane.

More than three hours after his pole lap, Rosberg was summoned to the stewards for failing to lift through the waved double-yellows - but he was eventually given the all-clear.

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Nico Rosberg secures pole position in Hungary after Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton had to abort his last lap due to yellow flags.

"For sure there was double waved [yellows], but I had a very big lift and lost a lot of time as a result," Rosberg said.

"I was four tenths up so I felt good on that lap," added the unfortunate Hamilton, who will now aim for his fifth Hungarian GP victory from behind Rosberg on the front row.

As expected, Red Bull provided Mercedes' closest fight with Daniel Ricciardo again winning the Saturday battle against Max Verstappen - though they too were caught out by the late chaos in Budapest.

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Paul di Resta is at the skypad to see how Nico Rosberg took pole position in Hungary with yellow flags hampering some of the field.

"Rosberg was behind Daniel and managed to get a purple middle sector," said aggrieved team boss Christian Horner.

Qualifying was always set to be an unpredictable thriller after a deluge prior to lights out and Q1 was in fact halted four times due to red flags, with Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Massa and Rio Haryanto all crashing out.

Later on in the sunshine, Sebastian Vettel eventually finished fifth ahead of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz though he also bemoaned his luck, while the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen didn't even reach the final shootout and will start the race in 14th.

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The opening qualifying session in the Hungarian Grand Prix was red-flagged for a third time after Felipe Massa put his Williams in the wall

Alonso ran in seventh despite the bedlam he caused in the middle sector, as McLaren had both cars in Q3 for the first time since 2014 with Jenson Button 0.3s and a place back from his Spanish team-mate.

 Williams' Valtteri Bottas was the first man to brave the slicks in a Q2 session that almost caught out Hamilton. After a mistake, the world champion only avoided the drop zone by a tenth ahead of Romain Grosjean. 

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We hear from the top 3 drivers after Nico Rosberg secured pole in an epic rain delayed Hungarian GP qualifying session.

Q1 had to be delayed by 20 minutes as a result of the heavy rain and there had barely been five minutes' running before Ericsson's spin at Turn 10, while Massa and Haryanto followed him out once the field switched to the intermediate tyre. In total, the session lasted 54 minutes.

The last red flag caused by Haryanto saw Jolyon Palmer eliminated from the first session again, along with Renault team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

Austrian GP Qualifying

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:19.965

2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:20.108

3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:20.280

4. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:20.557

5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:20.874

6. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:21.131

7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:21.211

8. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:21.597

9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:21.823

10. Valtteri Bottas, Willaims, 1:22.182

Q2

11. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:24.941

12. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:25.301

13. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:25.416

14. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:25.435

15. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:26.189

16. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:27.063

Q3

17. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:43.965

18. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:43.999

19. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:44.543

20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:46.984

21. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:47.343

22. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:50.189

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