Live Commentary: Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying - as it happened

Good afternoon all! It feels like ages since the last Grand Prix in Germany but after a few too many cocktails and more sun than is good for it, Formula 1 is back.

World championship leader Sebastian Vettel yet again looks set for a dominant weekend. You can see on the standings to the right of this commentary that the German leads Fernando Alonso by 34 points heading into this race. He's expected to strengthen that advantage.

Vettel's team, Red Bull, are also a long, long way clear in the Constructors' standings. They have 250 points thanks to the exploits of Vettel and teammate Mark Webber, with nearest challengers Mercedes and Ferrari on 183 and 180 respectively.

REMINDER! Just in case you've forgotten how F1 qualifying works or you're new to the sport, here's a quick rundown:

All 22 cars take part in a 20-minute 'Q1' session. The six slowest cars after this period are eliminated and start the race from their position between 17-22.

Next is a 15-minute 'Q2' session where the remaining 16 cars battle for a place in the final top 10 shootout. As before, the cars that finish in positions 11-16 start the race from those spots.

Finally, the 10-minute pole position shootout where the 10 quickest cars from Q2 fight it out for the final positions on the grid.

The Hungaroring is a 4.381km circuit that begins and ends with slow hairpin corners. There are 12 corners in between all with different speeds required. A classic racetrack that has been on the F1 calendar every year since 1986.

From a British perspective, this has been a very successful Grand Prix of late. Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill won here before the Millenium and five of the last seven races have been won by either Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button. Hamilton took a pole-to-flag victory here last year, while Button won his first ever GP with Honda back in 2006.

WEATHER WATCH: Button's victory in 2006 was the first time that the Hungarian Grand Prix had been dampened by rainy conditions. It doesn't look like we're going to see any of that this weekend as it's SWELTERING at the Hungaroring. Good news for the Lotus cars, who excel in hot conditions.

Vettel topped both practice sessions yesterday but could only manage fourth-best in the final session this morning, which Lotus's Romain Grosjean topped.

However, Vettel was on the harder, medium compound tyres and seemed to be running a higher fuel load. He's still heavy favourite for top spot.

GREEN LIGHT! The first 20-minute session is underway at the Hungaroring. Six cars will be eliminated. The Caterhams and Marussias are expected to drop out but which other two will join them?

Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez sets the first time with a 1:23.998.

Next over the line is Adrian Sutil of Force India but that's nowhere near Gutierrez. Sutil's teammate Di Resta does go top with a 1:23.484.

Bottas of Williams shoots to the top with a 1:21.552. Almost two seconds quicker than Di Resta.

None of the big guns have set a time yet so it's still Bottas at the top. He's now been joined by teammate Pastor Maldonado in the top two.

Interesting stat: Lewis Hamilton (last year) is the only man in the last eight years to win this race from pole position.

Ricciardo to the front with a 1:21.181. The Toro Rosso man has been hugely impressive of late, reaching Q3 in the last three races. It's expected to be tougher for him to do so today but that's a solid lap from the Aussie.

Ferrari's Alonso is the first of the big boys to cross the line and he's fastest with a 1:20.652. Raikkonen joins him on the front row soon after.

Grosjean is now top with a 1:20.447. Vettel has gone just faster than Alonso for second while the two Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton are the only ones yet to set a time. Three minutes of Q1 to go.

Rosberg and Hamilton cross the line with almost identical times to shoot to the top of the standings. Rosberg edged it by just 13-hundredths of a second with a 1:20.350.

At the moment it's Gutierrez and Di Resta in danger of joining the Caterhams and Marussias in exiting.

Di Resta doesn't make it into the top 16, but does cross the line just before the chequered flag so will have a chance to improve again.

OUT! The Scot backs off the lap though and he's already out in 18th. Here are the six, in the order they'll start tomorrow, who haven't made it into Q2: 17 Gutierrez 18 Di Resta 19 Pic 20 Van der Garde 21 Bianchi 22 Chilton

The Force India had been performing extremely well earlier this season but it's been a nasty last few weeks for the team. Di Resta is told over the radio that he's already out and his response is one of confusion. The car did not look comfortable at all there.

Up at the front it was the Silver Arrows of Rosberg and Hamilton who went fastest. Hamilton is looking to secure his third-straight pole position but even the rapid Mercedes surely can't stop Vettel this afternoon?

Q2 is already underway and zipping round the track at the moment is the Lotus of Raikkonen. He's been outperformed by teammate Grosjean so far this weekend.

Raikkonen sets the first time of Q2 with a 1:20.987. Webber is told that his KERS isn't working and that could damage his hopes of getting into the top-10 shootout. None of these things ever seem to happen to his teammate Vettel, do they?

Webber can only manage a time that is a full second slower than Raikkonen. Grosjean leaps into first place with a 1:20.442. Rosberg's on a flyer though...

He loses time in the final sector though and can only manage second. Hamilton doesn't make the same mistakes in the latter stages and does go first with a 1:20.303. Hamilton, Grosjean, Rosberg, Alonso, Sutil is the current top five.

BOSH! Vettel didn't start his lap brilliantly, but still pulls off a 1:19.992! The first man under 80 seconds and way clear of the field.

Webber has now been pushed out of the top 10 so his chances of making it to Q3 look slim.

Raikkonen had gone faster than Vettel in the first sector but drops behind the German in the twistier middle sector. Can he go faster than Grosjean?

He does! Even eclipsing Hamilton to move up to second. He's still a quarter of a second behind Vettel.

At the moment it's Webber who is the big name on the verge of being eliminated. Everyone else in the six elimination spots isn't that surprising.

NICO! Rosberg zips to a 1:19.778 to go fastest. Hamilton also goes faster than Vettel on fresh rubber. The Mercedes are certainly going to give Vettel a run for his money today.

Webber sneaks into Q3 with a great effort. Perez also just made it in 10th with the final lap of the session.

OUT! Here are the six drivers, in order, who didn't make it through to the final qualifying: 11 Sutil 12 Hulkenburg 13 Button 14 Vergne 15 Maldonado 16 Bottas

Yet again it's Rosberg who went fastest there. The brand new tyres gave the Mercedes supreme grip and that was some time from the German. I'd still be amazed if he beats his fellow countryman Vettel to pole.

Hamilton also went quicker than Vettel and the Englishman is one man you can never rule out. Remember, he's qualified fastest at the last two Grands Prix.

It's been a nasty season at McLaren and Mr Button won't be happy that teammate Perez has made it into the top 10 while he wallows away in the exit places. Will the 2009 champion be able to play it right strategically tomorrow to score some points?

GREEN LIGHT! The third and final qualifying session is underway! Ten more minutes of pacesetting, who will snatch pole? I'm still backing Vettel.

Button tells Sky Sports F1 that his performance is disappointing as the team did bring some upgrades to this Grand Prix.

Rosberg and Raikkonen set the first competitive times with 1:20.3s. Hamilton is also in the same 10th of a second bracket. These times won't be the fastest though as we've seen under 80 seconds already today.

And yep, there's Vettel obliterating the rest with a 1:19.506. He doesn't appear that quick in the opening sector but is just unrivalled in the second half of the lap.

It appears that Webber, who we know has a KERS problem, isn't even going to try and compete in this session. He won't be able to get near the top so may as well save his tyres and try for a different strategy. Ricciardo also hasn't set a time yet and may be trying something similar.

Into the final minute of qualifying. Can anyone get ahead of that time set by Vettel? I don't think so.

Raikkonen into second with a 1:19.8. Plenty more to come though...

Grosjean just shy of Vettel's time!

Incredible stuff from the 2008 world champion, what a lap! A 1:19.388 is good enough for a surprise pole at the Hungaroring. He's told over the radio that he's got P1 and is genuinely surprised: "Is that pole?" he asks.

Vettel did improve his time at the death but still couldn't beat Hamilton, finishing three-hundredths shy of the Mercedes. Grosjean will start third, continuing his good weekend.

TOP 10! Here's how they will line up at 1pm for the race tomorrow: 1 Hamilton 2 Vettel 3 Grosjean 4 Rosberg 5 Alonso 6 Raikkonen 7 Massa 8 Ricciardo 9 Perez 10 Webber

As mentioned, it's a third-straight pole for Hamilton. However, he hasn't been able to convert either of the last two in Britain and Germany, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

The Hungaroring isn't known for the overtaking opportunities it provides so Hamilton will be confident of claiming his second pole-to-flag victory in two years.

If you've only just joined us and want a brief summary of qualifying then you can find our report here. There's also the complete grid there.

That's all we've got time for on our commentary, thanks for joining us. Make sure you return to Sports Mole from 12.30pm tomorrow for our updates on the race. See you then.