Coming swiftly after the win in Germany that his team called a miracle, Lewis Hamilton once again caused the crowd to marvel with an unlikely pole position. The British driver pulled out a 17-point lead over his title rival Sebastian Vettel at Hockenheim and, with the German only fourth on the grid here, Hamilton is best placed to deliver a second blow that will leave his opponent reeling before Formula One’s summer break.

Hamilton delivered a masterclass in treacherous wet conditions, with a performance under intense pressure he said was further conclusive proof he has a definite edge over Vettel.

The defending champion had gone from 14th to claim the win in Germany, a race that concluded with Hamilton on the podium amid an apocalyptic storm. He must be judging the arrival of darkening skies as an increasingly good omen. Here the weather arrived at just the right time. As qualifying opened, the natural bowl of the Hungaroring was ringed with gunmetal grey clouds and echoes of thunder, lit by flashes of lightning and accompanied for the majority of the session by heavy rain.

That proved vital in levelling the playing field on a circuit where Mercedes were third fastest behind Ferrari and Red Bull but Hamilton made the difference. His final lap on full wet tyres at the very death was in a different league to his rivals. He was two-tenths in front of his teammate Valtteri Bottas and more than half a second clear of Kimi Räikkönen in third and Vettel.

It had been against the odds and, after Germany where Vettel crashed out, Hamilton believed he was proving a point. When asked here if he thought he was the better driver, he replied: “I know the answer, it is up to the public to judge. All I can do is try to be the best I can be on track and regardless of everyone’s opinion the results will speak for themselves. In such tricky conditions like today hopefully the more I do, bit by bit we will change the mentality of fans who think the other way. I don’t know why but my following goes up 100,000 every week so I am doing something right.”

Here he did so with aplomb, and proved once again that in the wet he has a quite remarkable touch. He found grip and pace that Ferrari could not match, for a 77th career pole that he had thrown everything at, with a time of 1min 35.658sec.

“You only get certain moments in life, you never get them back,” he said. “On that lap I was thinking: ‘It’s now or never.’ It’s not like your life depends on it but everything that you have worked for comes to that moment. The amount of pressure that I put on myself is huge.”

Vettel, who had been quickest in the dry in the second two practice sessions, did not feel the car beneath him on the final runs in Q3. “We weren’t quick enough,” he said. “It was difficult. The laps I did were fine but just not quick enough. In the wet we aren’t as confident as in the dry.”

Hamilton’s fifth pole of the season is his sixth at the Hungaroring, a circuit where he is the most successful driver, with five victories. He will be hopeful of adding another on Sunday but it is by no means a foregone conclusion, with the expected return of hot, dry weather taking the advantage back to Ferrari. Overtaking will be very difficult and Hamilton has Bottas as his wingman but having worked on what have been some poor starts, he knows he must stay in front and out of trouble to fend off the Ferraris.

The two Force India drivers took part in qualifying and will race despite the team being put into administration on Friday evening. Sergio Pérez was in 19th with Esteban Ocon in 18th. The team can continue operating while a deal is sought with a potential new owner. Force India is understood to have several creditors including their engine supplier Mercedes, team sponsor BWT and Pérez himself.

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Pérez referred to the financial situation as “critical” on Thursday but potential buyers have been linked with the team. The most high-profile is the Williams driver Lance Stroll’s father Lawrence, who provides major investment but is known to be disappointed at how uncompetitive the Williams is this year.

Daniel Ricciardo was caught out in the second session when, with yellow flags deployed, he was not able to set a quick enough time before full wets were required and went out in 12th.

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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was in seventh while the Renault of Carlos Sainz Jr was in fifth in front of the Toro Rossos of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, who made the most of the difficult conditions and finished in sixth and eighth respectively. The Haas of Kevin Magnussen was in ninth in front of his teammate Romain Grosjean.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was in 11th, with Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg in 13th. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson was in 14th with Stroll in the Williams in 15th.

Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren was in 16th in front of the Sauber of Charles Leclerc. The Williams of Sergey Sirotkin was in 20th.