Hungarian GP: Lewis Hamilton takes dominant pole position

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was in a league of his own as he took pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Englishman set two laps fast enough for pole, an early benchmark that proved out of reach of his rivals and then an even faster lap to take pole by 0.413 seconds.
Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was second ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.
Jenson Button was fourth, Kimi Raikkonen fifth, Fernando Alonso sixth and Mark Webber only 11th.
The top 10 was rounded out by Alonso's Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna, and Nico Hulkenberg's Force India.
Red Bull's Webber, second in the championship behind Ferrari driver Alonso, was knocked out in the second session.
The Australian could manage only 11th fastest time, despite being only 0.308 secs slower than Vettel, who was second fastest in that session behind Hamilton.
Hamilton said: "It is great to finally see the upgrades working and I have been able to put the car where I want to this weekend. We are not saying we are relaxed.
"We know we have a lot of work to do, starting this weekend."
It was a hugely impressive performance by Hamilton, who has looked the man to beat all weekend, and Grosjean lived up to the potential Lotus had appeared to have.
The Frenchman and his team-mate Raikkonen are expected to be a serious threat in the race, where their impressive tyre preservation ensures they are nearly always a factor.
Grosjean said of his second place: "It is good to be back at the front. We had a difficult race in Germany but I am glad we have been able to improve here and I think tomorrow is going to be interesting."
Alonso's performance, meanwhile, proved Ferrari's point that they do not have the fastest car in terms of outright pace in the dry, and that the Spaniard's 34-point championship lead has been caused largely by his impressive consistency.
Although Alonso has been on pole for the last two races, both those qualifying sessions were in the wet.
Red Bull's performance, on a track on which they have dominated for the last two seasons in terms of pure pace, will confirm in many minds that they have been knocked backwards by a rule change before this race restricting the manner in which they were altering engine settings for improved cornering performance and tyre wear.
But Red Bull's Vettel said: "It has been more a case of it being difficult getting everything to work properly. The speed is there but it has been a struggle to get the balance. I think with the progress we have made we should be in a good position tomorrow."
It was a terrible day for Mercedes, the challenging layout of endless corners at the Hungaroring exposing the weakness in their car that has been apparent for some time.

Alonso Goes Further Ahead

IT was supposed to be Lewis Hamilton’s day to celebrate his 100th grand prix — but he had to settle for a supporting role to McLaren team-mate Jenson Button.
Hamilton’s hopes of victory in his landmark race were dashed as early as the second lap due to a puncture before he was later forced to retire with a mechanical problem.But he still played a key part in helping Button finish in second place behind winner Fernando Alonso after Sebastian Vettel was controversially penalised and demoted from second to fifth.Red Bull’s preparations for this race were thrown into chaos just a few hours before the start when they received news that the stewards were investigating their engine mapping.It made for a twitchy few hours for the Milton Keynes-based team before technical whizz Adrian Newey spoke to the officials to put forward their case.They then received welcome news that the FIA would take no further action, meaning Vettel and Mark Webber held their second and eighth places on the grid.Vettel managed to maintain his position as the lights turned green but was forced to fend off his one-time idol Michael Schumacher

The battle between the two Germans allowed Ferrari’s Alonso to open up an early gap, but it was not such a smooth start for his team-mate Feipe Massa.Under-fire Brazilian Massa lost his front wing going into the first corner, sending splinters of fibreglass flying across the track.While he was able to limp back to the pits for a new nose, the consequences for Hamilton were massive.The Brit, who made a slow start from the line to drop down a place, picked up a puncture on his front tyre at the start of his second lap.He quickly radioed to his pit crew that he “could barely get back to the pit” before adding that he thought he should “retire” from the race.His McLaren team, however, did not share the same view as their driver and set about changing his tyres before sending him back out to rejoin the race in 22nd place.Vettel’s stop was slightly slower than Alonso’s and when he returned to the track he was wheel-to-wheel with Button, who managed to hold his nerve to pip his opponent into second.It was the sort of performance we have come to expect from the 2009 world champion, who went into this race with a return of just seven points from his previous six races.It appeared to give him a huge boost in confidence as he quickly charged down Alonso, while Vettel’s challenge suffered a blow after running wide at turn one..

Mark Cavendish storms to victory in final stage of Tour de France

CAVENDISH cemented his place as the best sprinter in world cycling  and Olympic gold medal favourite  with a stunning triumph in the final stage of the Tour de France.

The road race world champion, 27, was led to victory down the Champs-Elysees by Team Sky team-mate and overall winner Bradley Wiggins.

Cavendish hit the front in the final kilometre and used his raw pace to storm to the line for his third stage victory of the 2012 Tour, his 23rd overall and a record fourth win in the final stage in Paris.

It also moves him above Lance Armstrong to place fourth in the all-time list of stage winners.

An emotional Cavendish said: “It is incredible. Bradley Wiggins, the yellow jersey leading me out, said wait until the last kilometre and go for it  and I did.

“I went a bit earlier than I wanted to but I had the acceleration coming out of the corner and I just thought if I can put enough space between me and the chasers and then try to hold on.

“It couldn’t be more perfect, it has been an amazing Tour for us. It is incredible, Team Sky said the aim was to win the yellow jersey and we’ve done it with a one-two.

"We’ve got one more job to do next week and it’s going to be an amazing few weeks for us.”

The Manx Missile will be hoping for a perfect replica in just six days time in the Mall in London when he tackles the Olympic road race, giving Great Britain its first chance of lifting gold at London 2012.

Bradley Wiggins becomes first Brit to win Tour de France

SUNDAY afternoon bike ride into the heart of Paris was enough for Bradley Wiggins to complete the formality of his and Britain’s first-ever Tour de France victory.

The Londoner was accompanied by his Team Sky team-mates throughout the 120km stage from Rambouillet to Paris on a course lined with thousands of Union Flag-waving cycling fans.

And there was a fairytale ending to the Tour, as Wiggins led out world champion Mark Cavendish to win the final stage on the Champs-Elysees for a record fourth time and his own 23rd stage win.

Wiggins said after the race: "We were just on a mission to finish the job off with Cav. So, job done really.

"I'm still buzzing from Champs-Elysees, every lap is so quick round there. What a way for Mark to finish it off.

"It's very surreal at the moment. This sort of thing happens to other people. You look back in years to come and think: 'This is special.'"

The hard work by Team Sky had already been done after 19 previous stages which took in some fearsome climbs over the Alps and Pyrenees, and included two individual time-trial stage wins for Wiggins, his specialist discipline.

It means the yellow jersey comes to Britain for the first time in the event’s 99-year history.

And in a remarkable breakthrough for British cycling, Wiggins’ right-hand-man Chris Froome clinched second place overall.

Despite his third stage win of this year's Tour, Cavendish had to concede the overall sprinter's crown and green jersey to Peter Sagan.

Tejay van Garderen won the best young rider, with Thomas Voeckler being crowned king of the mountains