Sebastian Vettel added another pole position to Red Bulls ten so far this season by dominating in Hungary. He beat team-mate Mark Webber by four tenths of a second around the tight and twisty track.
Fernando Alonso led a Ferrari 3-4 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fifth.
Vitaly Petrov managed to surprise his team-mate by out-qualifying the Pole for the first time in seventh place.
Q2 saw the surprise elimination of Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher, meanwhile their team-mates all made it through to the final shoot-out session.
Kamui Kobayashi was the driver to join the newcomers in the bottom seven – not managing to get through to Q2 after being held up by the Hispania of Bruno Senna on his final lap.
The Virgin Racing team managed to crack a smile after managing to out-qualify the Lotus team by almost a tenth.
Qualifying classifications for the Hungarian GP:
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:20.417 | 1:19.573 | 1:18.773 | 21 |
| 02 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:21.132 | 1:19.531 | 1:19.184 | 20 |
| 11 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:21.422 | 1:21.292 | 23 | |
| 05 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:21.455 | 1:20.877 | 1:20.499 | 25 |
| 04 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:21.299 | 1:20.857 | 1:20.331 | 25 |
| 03 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:21.278 | 1:20.237 | 1:19.987 | 23 |
| 14 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:21.840 | 1:21.630 | 15 | |
| 06 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:21.212 | 1:20.811 | 1:21.082 | 21 |
| 08 | R. Kubica | Renault | 1:21.159 | 1:20.867 | 1:21.328 | 22 |
| 07 | V. Petrov | Renault | 1:21.558 | 1:20.797 | 1:21.229 | 25 |
| 12 | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:21.478 | 1:21.331 | 14 | |
| 10 | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | 1:21.598 | 1:21.275 | 1:21.710 | 26 |
| 16 | V. Liuzzi | Force India | 1:21.789 | 1:21.927 | 17 | |
| 13 | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:22.080 | 1:21.517 | 18 | |
| 09 | P. de la Rosa | Sauber | 1:21.891 | 1:21.273 | 1:21.411 | 23 |
| 18 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:22.222 | 10 | ||
| 17 | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:21.978 | 1:21.998 | 16 | |
| 15 | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:21.982 | 1:21.897 | 17 | |
| 20 | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | 1:24.120 | 9 | ||
| 21 | J. Trulli | Lotus | 1:24.199 | 9 | ||
| 19 | T. Glock | Virgin | 1:24.050 | 10 | ||
| 22 | L. di Grassi | Virgin | 1:25.118 | 10 | ||
| 23 | B. Senna | Hispania | 1:26.391 | 9 | ||
| 24 | K. Yamamoto | Hispania | 1:26.453 | 9 |
(All timing unofficial)
