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Lewis Hamilton took his fifth pole position of the season at Marina Bay, as the McLaren driver continued his mission to cut the points gap to his championship rival.

It was the 24th pole of his Formula One career and McLaren’s fourth straight top spot since Mika Hakkinen back in 1999.

Joining him on the front row is Pastor Maldonado, setting an impressive lap in the Williams. The Spanish Grand Prix winner managed to upstage defending world champion Sebastian Vettel.

The Red Bull driver was quickest in all three practice sessions at Singapore, but when it mattered in the all-important top ten shootout, Vettel was unable to repeat that speed and had to settle for third.

Jenson Button was fourth fastest ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso and the Force India of Paul di Resta. Mark Webber was seventh quickest for the moment, but that may change as the Australian is under investigation for allegedly impeding Timo Glock during Q1.

Hours after qualifying, the race stewards have decided to reprimand Webber for leaving the track twice during his in-lap at the end of Q3. As for his impending over Glock, no penalty was given so the Red Bull driver will start Sunday’s race seventh on the grid.

Romain Grosjean, back after his one-race ban, recorded the eighth fastest time despite a scruffy qualifying session. The Lotus driver still managed to qualify ahead of the Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, who both declined to set a lap time in Q3.

Grosjean, having set the quickest time of all in Q1, also tapped the wall with the rear of the car at Turn 14 at the beginning of Q2. He bounced back from his shunt though to go fourth fastest in Q2, behind Hamilton, Vettel and Webber.

The Lotus driver wasn’t the only one in the wall in that session. Bruno Senna damaged his suspension against the wall at the penultimate corner, the same place he’d brushed in Q1.

This was the third time the Brazilian had been in the barrier over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend and he will start Sunday’s race in P17.

Joining Senna were Nico Hulkenberg, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and Massa in particular might have expected to progress further, but late laps from the Mercedes duo put paid to their hopes.

With news speculation surrounding Vitaly Petrov’s future at Caterham, the Russian put in a great effort in Q1. For most of it he looked like he might outqualify Toro Rosso’s Vergne and Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi on merit to move into Q2.

But both of those drivers would eventually move ahead of Petrov, who lines up P20 ahead of his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, as the Toro Rossos injected some super-soft pace at the crucial moment (Ricciardo was seventh fastest overall in Q1).

Kobayashi however dropped out early as he was already in the pits as the Toro Rossos recorded their lap times. From being at the sharp end of the grid at Spa to the bottom in Singapore.

As for HRT, Narain Karthikeyan managed to outqualified his team-mate Pedro de la Rosa for the second time in succession. By a margin of nearly a second, as the pair occupied the last row of the grid.

Qualifying positions at Marina Bay:

1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m46.362s
2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m46.804s
3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m46.905s
4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m46.939s
5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m47.216s
6.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m47.241s
7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m47.475s
8.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m47.788s
9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             no time
10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             no time
11.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m47.975s
12.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m48.261s
13.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m48.344s
14.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m48.505s
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m48.774s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m48.849s
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     no time
18.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m49.933s
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m50.846s
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m51.137s
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m51.370s
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m51.762s
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m52.372s
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m53.355s

107 per cent time: 1m55.226s

Lewis Hamilton recorded his first victory at the legendary Monza circuit after holding off a late charge from Sauber’s Sergio Perez to win the Italian Grand Prix for McLaren.

As for Fernando Alonso, the Ferrari driver extended his championship lead by coming through from tenth on the grid to third.

Alonso benefited from his closet title rival Sebastian Vettel receiving a drive-through penalty for forcing him off the track at Curva Grande.

The incident was very similar to what occurred between Alonso and Vettel last year and yet in this scenario, the latest rule changes means at least a car’s width must be given and so Vettel was penalised.

The Red Bull driver would later retire with a mechanical problem.

For much of the Italian Grand Prix, it seemed McLaren were heading to an one-two result thanks to their strong race pace.

Although Felipe Massa made a great start to immediately pass Jenson Button for second position and then pressure Hamilton into Variante del Rettifilo, the pole sitter was soon able to ease away. Button then overtook the Ferrari just before their pitstops.

But with 19 laps to go, Button was forced to park his McLaren on the approach to Curva Parabolica, with a fuel pressure problem.

That brought Massa back up to second position, but with his Scuderia team-mate Alonso catching him.

The championship leader had gained two positions off the start, before overtaking Kamui Kobayashi and Kimi Raikkonen in quick succession.

Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel then proved tougher opponents, though the Spaniard eventually passed both. Along the way, Alonso ended up on the Curva Grande grass as Vettel defended – a move that would earn the defending champion a drive-through penalty.

Vettel still looked set for sixth until being ordered to stop his Red Bull due to a developing technical problem five laps from the chequered flag.

Massa gave Alonso an easy pass into second position, but by then a new threat was looming.

Unlike all the frontrunners, Sergio Perez had started on the harder Pirelli tyres, allowing the Mexican to run until lap 29 before his first pitstop.

Perez rejoined in sixth, benefited from Vettel and Button’s problems, and then started lapping 1.5 seconds faster than the leaders as he thrived on the medium compound rubber.

Both Massa and Alonso were easily overtaken, and Perez then charged off after Hamilton.

The Mexican would run out of time to catch the McLaren, but still claimed his third podium in an excellent season.

Alonso and Massa finished third and fourth, ahead of Raikkonen’s Lotus, holding off the two-stopping Mercedes duo of Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

Mark Webber recovered from a slow start to get into the top six, only to spin his Red Bull out of Variante Ascari in the final laps and then retire.

Force India’s Paul di Resta took eighth position, while his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg’s charge from the back ended with a late technical problem.

Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna completed the points-scorers for Sauber and Williams respectively after a last-lap problem for Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo.

The latter’s team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne retired in dramatic style with an apparent suspension breakage approaching Variante del Rettifilo.

In the drivers’ championship, Alonso has extended his lead to 37 points over Hamilton, 179 to 142, with fifth-place finisher Kimi Raikkonen third on 141 from Vettel on 140, Webber on 132 and Button on 101.

As for the constructors, despite the double non-finish for Red Bull Racing – the first time since Korea 2010 – the team now have 272 points to McLaren’s 243, Ferrari’s 226 and Lotus’s 217.

Italian Grand Prix after 53 laps:

1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h19:41.221
2.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +4.356
3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +20.594
4.  Massa         Ferrari                    +29.667
5.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +30.881
6.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +31.259
7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +33.550
8.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +41.057
9.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +43.898
10.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +48.144
11.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +48.682
12.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +50.316
13.  d’Ambrosio    Lotus-Renault              +1:15.861
14.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
15.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
16.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
17.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
18.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +1 lap
19.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +1 lap
20.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +2 laps
21.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +3 laps
22.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +6 laps

Fastest lap: Rosberg, 1:27.239

Not classified/retirements:
Button        McLaren-Mercedes             32 laps
Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari           8 laps

World Championship standings, round 13:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso       179
2.  Hamilton     142
3.  Raikkonen    141
4.  Vettel       140
5.  Webber       132
6.  Button       101
7.  Rosberg       83
8.  Grosjean      76
9.  Perez         65
10.  Massa         47
11.  Schumacher    43
12.  Kobayashi     35
13.  Di Resta      32
14.  Hulkenberg    31
15.  Maldonado     29
16.  Senna         25
17.  Vergne         8
18.  Ricciardo      4

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          272
2.  McLaren-Mercedes          243
3.  Ferrari                   226
4.  Lotus-Renault             217
5.  Mercedes                  126
6.  Sauber-Ferrari            100
7.  Force India-Mercedes       63
8.  Williams-Renault           54
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         12

Next race: Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay. September 21-23.

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth pole position of the season, securing an all-McLaren front row with Belgian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button alongside him.

This qualifying result was McLaren’s 63rd front row sweep in Formula One, a new record in the sport’s rich history.

After setting the quickest time in the second and third practice sessions, Hamilton maintained his strong form to lap the high-speed Monza circuit with a time of one minute, 24.010 seconds in Q3.

That lap time proved unbeatable with Button eventually joining his team-mate just 0.123 seconds slower.

Jenson’s Q3 lap demoted Felipe Massa to third and yet this was the best qualifying performance from the Ferrari driver all season.

As for the championship leader, this was a disastrous session for Massa’s team-mate Fernando Alonso – who was only tenth – 1.4 seconds adrift. The Scuderia reported on Twitter that a suspected anti-rollbar failure was the cause.

Paul di Resta qualified an excellent fourth, although the Force India driver will drop down to ninth following a gearbox-change penalty.

His team-mate Nico Hulkenberg suffered an apparent gearbox problem at the start of Q1 and will start the Italian Grand Prix right at the back.

Red Bull Racing had another muted qualifying session. Sebastian Vettel could only manage sixth, while his team-mate Mark Webber did not even make Q3, missing the cut by 0.067 seconds as he took eleventh.

Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg sandwich Vettel in fifth and seventh.

Kimi Raikkonen qualified eighth for Lotus, ahead of the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi.

It was also a tough qualifying session for Williams. A mistake on the exit of the Ascaris left Pastor Maldonado P12 in Q2, but will become P22 on the grid due to his Spa penalties. Bruno Senna was only P14.

Romain Grosjean’s substitute Jerome d’Ambrosio was around 0.7 seconds off team-mate Raikkonen’s pace throughout qualifying, which left him P16 for his Lotus debut.

D’Ambrosio had a brief scare in Q1 when an error on his first run left him behind Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham and in danger of elimination, but he switched to the softer Pirelli compound and made the cut with his last attempt.

Qualifying position for the Italian Grand Prix:

1.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.010s
2.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.133s
3.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m24.247s
4.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m24.540s
5.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m24.802s
6.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m24.833s
7.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m24.855s
8.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.109s
9.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m24.304s*
10.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m25.678s
11.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m24.809s
12.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.901s
13.  Bruno Senna         Williams-Renault      1m25.042s
14.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m25.312s
15.  Jerome d’Ambrosio   Lotus-Renault         1m25.408s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m25.441s
17.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m26.382s
18.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m26.887s
19.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.039s
20.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.073s
21.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m27.441s
22.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m24.820s**
23.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m27.629s
24.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes No time***

107 per cent time: 1m30.076s

*Five-place penalty due to gearbox change
**Two five-place penalties due to infringements during the Belgian Grand Prix
***Failed to beat 107% time, needs a dispensation from the stewards to start

Jenson Button drove a faultless lights-to-flag win in the Belgian Grand Prix, avoiding the huge startline accident in which title contenders Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were eliminated.

With Sebastian Vettel coming through from tenth on the grid to second position, it means the defending world champion is now only 24 points behind Alonso.

The accident started when Lotus driver Romain Grosjean moved across the track on the approach to the La Source hairpin and squeezed Hamilton’s McLaren.

The two made contact and ploughed into the cars ahead in dramatic fashion. Alonso and Sergio Perez were also eliminated, while slow-starting front-row man Kamui Kobayashi and Pastor Maldonado – who jumped the start – both picked up damage.

The onboard footage from Fernando’s car was scary and thankfully all four drivers escaped without serious injury.

Kobayashi and Maldonado were able to continue but the latter was soon out following a safety car restart clash with the Marussia of Timo Glock.

The chaos on the opening lap reshuffled the race order, with Button leading Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus, the Force India duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta, followed by Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes and the Toro Rosso pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

The Red Bulls were delayed in the incident on the opening lap, leaving Mark Webber in P8 and Vettel P12.

Button charged away from the outset, making a one-stop strategy work to perfection as he followed up his maiden McLaren pole with his first win since the season-opener in Melbourne.

Raikkonen lacked speed early on and was overtaken by Hulkenberg and Schumacher.

An early first pit-stop helped the Lotus regain lost ground, but the best strategy appeared to be to pit once. A combination of this tactic and several early passing moves helped Vettel emerge in second position.

Schumacher also tried to pit once, but found himself under big pressure from two-stoppers Raikkonen and Hulkenberg.

This led to some spectacular racing, including Raikkonen overtaking Schumacher around the outside into Eau Rouge, as the seven-time champion twice managed to fight back past his rivals using DRS. Eventually he had to admit defeat and pit again.

By then Raikkonen was long gone and heading for the final podium spot, ahead of Hulkenberg, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, and Webber.

Schumacher eventually finished in seventh, as the Toro Rossos and di Resta fell back to the tail of the top ten.

Nico Rosberg and Bruno Senna also had to make late tyre stops, leaving them outside the points.

Caterham briefly looked like it might achieve an upset as Heikki Kovalainen emerged in tenth on lap one. But he soon fell back and would later have two spins and a pitlane clash with Narain Karthikeyan.

So a dramatic race at the Belgian Grand Prix with a frightening accident at the start, and yet in the end Jenson Button drove a brilliant race to take his second win of the season.

The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is next and it will be fascinating to see if Alonso’s lead in the championship is reduced further.

Race results from Spa-Francorchamps, after 44 laps:

1.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           1h29:08.530
2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +13.624
3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +25.334
4.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +27.843
5.  Massa         Ferrari                    +29.845
6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +31.244
7.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +53.374
8.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +58.865
9.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:02.982
10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +1:03.783
11.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +1:05.111
12.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +1:11.529
13.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1:56.119
14.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
15.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
16.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
17.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
18.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +1 lap
19.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +30 laps

Fastest lap: Senna, 1:52.822

Not classified/retirements:

Maldonado     Williams-Renault             5 laps
Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               1 lap
Alonso        Ferrari                      1 lap
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             1 lap
Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                1 lap

World Championship standings, round 12:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso       164
2.  Vettel       140
3.  Webber       132
4.  Raikkonen    131
5.  Hamilton     117
6.  Button       101
7.  Rosberg       77
8.  Grosjean      76
9.  Perez         47
10.  Schumacher    35
11.  Massa         35
12.  Kobayashi     33
13.  Hulkenberg    31
14.  Maldonado     29
15.  Di Resta      28
16.  Senna         24
17.  Vergne         8
18.  Ricciardo      4

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          272
2.  McLaren-Mercedes          218
3.  Lotus-Renault             207
4.  Ferrari                   199
5.  Mercedes                  112
6.  Sauber-Ferrari             80
7.  Force India-Mercedes       59
8.  Williams-Renault           53
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         12

Next race: Italian Grand Prix, Monza. September 7-9.

Jenson Button recorded his first pole position for McLaren with a fantastic performance in a dramatic qualifying session.

After racing with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team for three seasons, the 2009 world champion finally achieved the top grid result after 50 races. His last pole was at Monaco in his championship-winning year.

His lap around the challenging Spa-Francorchamps track was impressive one minute, 47.573 seconds.

Kamui Kobayashi claimed his maiden front-row start as he underlined Sauber’s speed with an amazing second position, while world champion Sebastian Vettel was unable to go any further than Q2.

Button put himself eight tenths clear of the 24-car field for much of Q2, then repeated that sheer pace to deliver a one minute, 47.686 seconds early in Q3.

One of the few drivers to do two runs, Jenson found even more time at the second attempt and delivered the ultimate pole position lap.

Kobayashi was three tenths adrift as he secured his career-best Formula One start, while his team-mate Sergio Perez also shone in fifth position.

After setting the pace in Q1, Pastor Maldonado was another star underdog as he took third for Williams. Although an impeding incident involving the 12th-place qualifier Nico Hulkenberg is under investigation.

Pre-race favourite Lotus could only managed fourth with Kimi Raikkonen and ninth with Romain Grosjean. The latter had a few scary moments just getting out of Q1 following a mistake and traffic issues with an HRT.

World championship leader Fernando Alonso could not repeat his FP3 performance and will start in sixth position.

As one McLaren took pole, the other was only eighth quickest, although Lewis Hamilton will gain a place when Mark Webber’s Red Bull is demoted five places from seventh due to a gearbox change penalty.

Force India’s Paul di Resta completed the top ten at Spa-Francorchamps.

Vettel was the most significant incident during a close Q2. Just two tenths separated him from his team-mate Webber, but that translated to seven positions, as last year’s Spa pole sitter and race winner ended up only P11, 0.012 seconds off a Q3 spot.

He was not the only big name to miss out. Felipe Massa trailed behind the sister Ferrari of Alonso by seven tenths as he struggled to P14. While Michael Schumacher, competing in his 300th Formula One race, could only qualify in P13 for Mercedes.

Already carrying a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change following FP3, Nico Rosberg was only P18 in qualifying after crossing the line moments too late for a final Q1 run.

Rosberg’s disappointment meant both Toro Rossos reached Q2, where they beat the Williams of Bruno Senna. The Brazilian pulled off an incredible save after sliding sideways across the kerbs through most of Pouhon, then had to pit for repairs and could not get above P17 when he rejoined.

While at the back, Timo Glock used Marussia’s upgrades to get a little closer to the Caterhams, but his team-mate Charles Pic was beaten to P22 by Pedro de la Rosa’s HRT.

Grid positions at Spa-Francorchamps:

1.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m47.573s
2.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m47.871s
3.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m47.893s
4.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m48.205s
5.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m48.219s
6.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m48.313s
7.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m48.394s
8.  Romain Grosjean     Lotus-Renault         1m48.538s
9.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m48.890s
10.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m49.722s
11.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m49.362s
12.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m48.392s*
13.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m49.742s
14.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m49.588s
15.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m49.763s
16.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m49.572s
17.  Bruno Senna         Williams-Renault      1m49.958s
18.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m51.739s
19.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m51.967s
20.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m52.336s
21.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m53.030s
22.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m53.493s
23.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m50.181s*
24.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m54.989s

107 per cent time: 1m56.622s

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

Lewis Hamilton achieved his 19th career Grand Prix victory with a lights to flag win at the Hungaroring, holding off the Lotus’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.

This was Hamilton’s third victory at the track and his second this season. Raikkonen’s impressive pace in the middle stint jumped him several track positions which was even more remarkable considering a technical issue with KERS. The Iceman recorded an excellent second position while his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean took third.

Hamilton led the majority of the Hungarian Grand Prix, but had a Lotus on his tail nearly all of the way.

Initially it was Romain Grosjean, who dismissed a strong challenge from Sebastian Vettel at the first corner, which allowed Jenson Button to then demote the Red Bull to fourth through Turns 2 and 3.

Button could not match Hamilton and Grosjean’s early pace, so the McLaren and Lotus pulled away in a two-car lead fight.

Hamilton had it under control, although Grosjean did apply some pressure for a while in the middle stint of their two-stop strategies when the Frenchman was on soft compound tyres and the Briton had medium Pirellis.

When Button made an early second of three stops, Vettel was free to start catching the leaders too, but in the end it was Raikkonen who was challenging Hamilton for the race win.

Raikkonen had been sixth in the opening stint, and then passed Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari in the first stops. His strong late-stint pace on a long run on soft compound Pirellis in his next stint then allowed the Iceman to lead for a spell and vault from fifth to second, firmly resisting team-mate Grosjean as he emerged from his final stop.

Hamilton and Raikkonen were then tied together until the chequered flag, but there was nothing the Lotus could do to pass the McLaren on this twisty circuit.

Grosjean held on to third place ahead of Vettel, who made a third pitstop without losing track position and charged back to attack the Lotus on fresh softs, to no avail.

Alonso calmly protected his championship lead on a difficult day for Ferrari, finishing fifth. For a while it looked like main title rival Mark Webber would trim a little from Alonso’s cushion. The Australian jumped from P11 to seventh on the opening lap, and then got ahead of Alonso at the second stops. But making a third tyre change cost Webber and he fell to eighth.

Button’s three-stop plan was also unsuccessful, as his second stop left him trapped behind Bruno Senna’s Williams. The 2009 world champion got back in front of the Brazilian in the final tyre changes then chased Alonso home in sixth.

Senna resisted Webber for seventh, delivering one of his best drives of the season on a day when his Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado lost ground at the start then received a drive-through penalty for barging into Paul di Resta’s Force India.

Felipe Massa was ninth while Nico Rosberg salvaged a point for Mercedes. As for Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion endured one of his most depressing races in Formula One. The Mercedes driver was left on the grid in an aborted initial start, joined the race from the pits, received a pitlane speeding penalty, and then retired from P18 late on.

Birthday boy Fernando Alonso still leads the championship with 164 points – forty ahead of Mark Webber followed by Sebastian Vettel and race winner Lewis Hamilton – as the sport heads into a summer break. The drivers and teams will re-group at the magnificent Spa-Francorchamps circuit in a month’s time. After seven different winners in eleven races, the second half of the season will be fascinating.

Race results at the Hungaroring after 69 laps:
1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h41:05.503
2.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +1.032
3.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +10.518
4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +11.614
5.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +26.653
6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +30.243
7.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +33.899
8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +34.458
9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +38.350
10.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +51.234
11.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +57.283
12.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +1:02.887
13.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +1:03.606
14.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +1:04.494
15.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
16.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
17.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +2 laps
19.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +2 laps
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
21.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +3 laps
22.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:24.136

Not classified/retirements:
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 63 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     61 laps

World Championship standings, round 11:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso       164
2.  Webber       124
3.  Vettel       122
4.  Hamilton     117
5.  Raikkonen    116
6.  Rosberg       77
7.  Grosjean      76
8.  Button        76
9.  Perez         47
10.  Kobayashi     33
11.  Maldonado     29
12.  Schumacher    29
13.  Di Resta      27
14.  Massa         25
15.  Senna         24
16.  Hulkenberg    19
17.  Vergne         4
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          246
2.  McLaren-Mercedes          193
3.  Lotus-Renault             192
4.  Ferrari                   189
5.  Mercedes                  106
6.  Sauber-Ferrari             80
7.  Williams-Renault           53
8.  Force India-Mercedes       46
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps. August 31-September 2.

Lewis Hamilton secured McLaren’s 150th pole position in Formula One with a dominant performance in qualifying at the Hungaroring.

The McLaren driver was completely in a different zone setting the quickest lap time throughout, and his two flying laps was good enough for his third pole position.

Hamilton’s margin over Romain Grosjean was more than four tenths of a second, which underlines his strong performance. As for Romain, this was his best qualifying result this season for Lotus.

Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel threatened to disrupt Hamilton’s momentum late on in Q3, only to lose time in the final sector. Despite this, Sebastian will start the Hungarian Grand Prix in third, alongside Jenson Button’s McLaren.

Kimi Raikkonen lines up fifth on the grid alongside championship leader Fernando Alonso, with Felipe Massa fractions away from out-qualifying his Ferrari team-mate for the first time this season.

Williams Pastor Maldonado, who appeared to be held up slightly behind Hamilton in Q3, qualified in eighth while making his first appearance in the session was Bruno Senna. The Brazilian did a great job to take ninth ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Senna’s Q2 lap meant Mark Webber was eliminated from the top-ten shootout. The Red Bull driver was unable to improve on his final run, leaving him only ninth with 60 seconds of the session to run. That became tenth when Hulkenberg came round, followed by Senna, which consigned Webber to an early exit as the flag fell.

Mercedes also endured a horrible qualifying, failing to break into Q3 with either car for the first time in 2012. Michael Schumacher was unable to recover from several wild moments and will start from P17, with Nico Rosberg four places ahead of him in P13.

The Silver Arrows pair were separated by the Sauber duo of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi and Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

The latter had sparked a mad Q1 scramble when he switched onto soft Pirellis and jumped up to fourth place, forcing most of the field to adopt the same tyre strategy.

As the laps played out Red Bull Racing appeared to be in trouble but the team was ultimately able to tell both drivers to ease off as the scrap for the final Q2 place boiled down to Kobayashi and the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian eventually losing out.

However, Ricciardo will start ahead of the Caterhams of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov, with the Finn almost six tenths clear of his team-mate.

A further second down the road were the Marussia’s Charles Pic meanwhile got the best of team-mate Timo Glock, the duo starting ahead of the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.

Qualifying positions for the Hungarian Grand Prix:

1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m20.953s
2.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m21.366s
3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m21.416s
4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.583s
5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m21.730s
6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m21.844s
7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m21.900s
8.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m21.939s
9.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m22.343s
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m22.847s
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m21.715s
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m21.813s
13.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m21.895s
14.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m21.895s
15.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.300s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m22.380s
17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m22.723s
18.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.250s
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m23.576s
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m24.167s
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m25.244s
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m25.476s
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m25.916s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m26.178s

107 per cent time: 1m27.519s

Fernando Alonso extends his championship lead after resisting huge pressure from Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button to win his third race of the season following a great drive at Hockenheim.

The Spaniard never had a huge lead in his Ferrari, but did enough to keep the chasing Red Bull and McLaren at bay.

In the end Alonso was helped by Vettel and Button battling to the finish, their duel finally settled by a penultimate-lap pass from the Red Bull.

Although the overtaking manoeuvre by Vettel means he could face a post-race penalty. The Red Bull gained track position over the McLaren despite all four wheels off the circuit.

Alonso’s victory means he now extends his championship lead to 34 points, as Silverstone winner Mark Webber finished a disappointing eighth.

In a similar scenario to the previous Grand Prix in Britain, Alonso spent the race under increasing pressure.

The Ferrari established a slight cushion over Vettel’s Red Bull in the opening stint on the soft tyres, and then came under greater threat once they changed to medium Pirellis at the first pitstops.

By that time Button was also in the fight. The 2009 champion overtook Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg early on, then closed in on the top two, gaining some ground when his team-mate Lewis Hamilton – who had been delayed with an early puncture – unlapped himself from Vettel.

Stopping a lap earlier than the defending champion at the final pitstop then allowed Button to sweep into second position. He resisted Vettel’s attempted retaliation at the hairpin, and then set off after Alonso.

But in the closing laps it was Button who was under pressure as Vettel attacked. The Red Bull went down the outside into the hairpin with a lap to go and used the run-off area on the exit to complete a pass then did not impress Button, although the McLaren driver still claimed his first podium since April’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Hours after the race, the stewards have decided to penalise Sebastian Vettel by twenty seconds on his ‘off-track’ manoeuvre. The German drops down to fifth while Jenson Button takes second position with Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium for Lotus.

Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth for Lotus, while the Saubers showed great race pace and tyre life with Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez coming through to fifth and sixth from their midfield grid slots.

Perez held on despite late pressure from Schumacher’s Mercedes, which was running a three-stop strategy and charging back on fresh soft tyres.

Webber never featured near the front and finished eighth, just ahead of Hulkenberg. The Force India driver drifted down the order as the race progressed, with his team-mate Paul di Resta ending up behind Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in P11. Rosberg stopped three times in the pits and managed to make up lost ground well after his practice and qualifying dramas.

And Lewis Hamilton? His 100th race was a disaster as he cut his left-rear tyre on some of the Massa/Ricciardo debris on the third lap and dropped to the back of the field.

The McLaren eventually retired, while fellow early pit visitors Felipe Massa, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean kept racing and got back to P12, P17 and P18 respectively.

Also in trouble was Senna’s Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado, who appeared to be suffering high tyre wear as he slumped to P15.

The result puts Alonso even further ahead in the title chase with 154 points to Webber’s 120, and Vettel is closing on his team mate with 118. Raikkonen takes fourth from Hamilton, 95 to 92, with Rosberg sixth on 76 and Button seventh on 65. In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull have 238 points to Ferrari’s 177, McLaren’s 157 and Lotus’s 156.

German Grand Prix race results, 67 laps:

1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    1h31:05.862
2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +6.949
3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +16.409
4.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +21.925
5.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +23.732*
6.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +27.896
7.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +28.960
8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +46.900
9.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +48.162
10.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +48.889
11.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +59.227
12.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:11.428
13.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1:16.829
14.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:16.965
15.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +1 lap
16.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +1 lap
19.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +2 laps
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
21.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps
22.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +3 laps
23.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps

*Twenty-second penalty for overtaking Jenson Button off the circuit.

Fastest lap: Schumacher, 1:18.275

Not classified/retirements:

Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             58 laps

World Championship standings, round 10:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso       154
2.  Webber       120
3.  Vettel       110
4.  Raikkonen     98
5.  Hamilton      92
6.  Rosberg       76
7.  Button        68
8.  Grosjean      61
9.  Perez         47
10.  Kobayashi     33
11.  Maldonado     29
12.  Schumacher    29
13.  Di Resta      27
14.  Massa         23
15.  Hulkenberg    19
16.  Senna         18
17.  Vergne         4
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          230
2.  Ferrari                   177
3.  McLaren-Mercedes          160
4.  Lotus-Renault             159
5.  Mercedes                  105
6.  Sauber-Ferrari             80
7.  Williams-Renault           47
8.  Force India-Mercedes       46
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring. July 27-29.