Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel harnessed Bridgestone’s super soft tyres to power to his fourth pole position in a row with a sensational 1m 18.773secs time at the Hungaroring.

Vettel was the only driver in the 1min 18s and will be joined on the front row for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix by team-mate Mark Webber. Webber was fastest in the morning.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today’s running?

“This morning the track surface was not as good as it was at the end of yesterday’s running due to rain overnight and oil on track from the support category. At the start of qualifying the track surface was reasonable, and it continued to improve to the extent that we saw record-breaking pace today. The Red Bulls were very quick, especially in the last two sectors of the lap. Their speed at the speed trap is not as high as their opposition, so we can see they are using the maximum potential of their tyres through the Hungaroring’s fourteen corners.”

What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow’s race?

“Both compounds are working very well here in Hungary. The super soft has not shown much degradation so in terms of tyre performance, many strategies are possible tomorrow. It is quite a short lap here, so the front-runners could encounter traffic quite early, which is another factor for making the pit stop calls. It will be interesting to watch Jenson Button’s strategy in the race, starting from eleventh, as we have seen him use very good strategies many times so far this season to gain positions in the race.”

Stats of the Day

Compounds used: Medium (prime) / Super soft (option)