BUDAPEST: Formula One world championship leader Nico Rosberg took pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday while Mercedes team-mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton was set to start last after his car caught fire.

Hamilton, 14 points behind Rosberg after 10 races, has won in Hungary for the past two years and four times in total and had been the favourite for pole but those hopes went up in smoke with the session barely started.

Hamilton, who was fastest in all three practice sessions, will start at the back for the second-straight grand prix as the fire, at the rear of his car, ruled him out of contention for pole position and likely a top five finish on Sunday.

Four-time world champion and fellow German Sebastian Vettel will start alongside Rosberg from the front row in his Red Bull while Finland’s Valtteri Bottas in a Williams and Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull make up row two.

It appeared Vettel might steal the fastest time from under Rosberg’s nose until the championship leader blazed round the circuit in his final lap to set a session best time of 1min 22.715sec, 0.486 seconds ahead of Vettel who equalled his best grid placing of the season.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2014