Nico Rosberg insists he “had a very big lift” on his final lap in Q3, which earned the Mercedes man pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
As drivers enter their last run in a wild wet-to-dry qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton held provisional pole and was improving when his attempt was scuppered by double yellow flags waved between the chicane and Turn 8 to signal a spin by Fernando Alonso
While the Briton aborted his lap, Rosberg, who arrived at the scene of the incident later than his team-mate, eventually managed to improve his mark and snatch pole for one tenth.
“For sure there were double-waved yellows but I had a very big lift, I lost a lot of time as a result,” said the championship leader. “I was also slower than on my previous lap in that yellow sector so I’m sure that it will be OK.”
Prior to that nail-biting finish, it had been a chaotic qualifying session, with the start being delayed twice as heavy rain swept across the Hungaroring.
The opening segment of qualifying was red-flagged four times before track conditions improved and times tumbled down as drivers switched from full-wets to intermediates, and then to slicks.
“It was unbelievable, it was just changing all the time, and so many things happened, even just getting that gap at the end of the lap was difficult,” Rosberg further commented.
“Everybody was backing off and you needed to make sure you get a good gap there, even for the great last lap because the timing was quite tight. Then I really nailed the last lap. I'm very happy with that.”
REPORT: Rosberg snatches pole after dramatic qualifying
AS IT HAPPENED: 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying
Silbermann says ... Birds on the wire
Romain Grosjean column: Safety car starts and summer breaks
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
