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Romain Grosjean’s car failed a floor deflection test after qualifying in Hungary, but after investigating the matter the FIA Stewards did not give a penalty.

The top three cars were subjected to an “asymmetric front floor RHS deflection test,” and Grosjean’s deflected more than 5mm vertically.

They accepted that the floor stay was broken after a high vertical loading was caused by hitting a kerb at Turn 11. In fact it was deemed to have ranged from -7.3g to + 11.1g.

The stewards also examined an identical part from Kimi Raikkonen’s car and accepted that Grosjean’s had done 600kms, including a race distance.

They stewards thus decreed that “this is deemed to be a case of accidental daamge, not a case of non-compliance.”

Lewis Hamilton admits that he was surprised to be on pole in Hungary after feeling that he hadn’t done a particularly good lap.

“I was really surprised when I came across the line and they said I got pole,” said Hamilton. “I was expecting Sebastian to get it because he had shown some serious pace before. And it didn’t even feel that great a lap, so that’s why I was quite surprised.

“We bought some upgrades this weekend. The guys have been working incredibly hard to try to catch everyone and they’re just doing a phenomenal job. It’s a result of all the hard work they’ve put in.”

However Lewis is under no illusions about Sunday’s race, and he expects that once again Mercedes will struggle on race pace.

“It’s been the same for a long time. We don’t come into the race and it’s a surprise to us. That’s what it is. It’s great to have the pole position but it doesn’t really mean a lot throughout the weekend. Obviously the race is where we score the points. It’s going to be tough tomorrow. It didn’t feel like a disaster through our long runs but it definitely wasn’t as good as the guys next to me. So, that’s the way it is.

“We’ve got a good car, so I think if we didn’t have the tyre issues we would be able to compete with the guys in the race. It sucks in the way that I’m not able to have a race with these guys but we will do the best we can tomorrow.

“The tyre degradation is an issue and no matter what rules change or whatever solutions we find, so far, generally it seems very difficult for us to improve. But we’re just working away at it and hopefully we will get there before the rules change again for next year, different tyres come in. Otherwise it’s just trying to get as many points as we can and trying to hold on to Sebastian for as long as I can.”

Hamilton has in Hungary won three times in the past, but he doesn’t expect a repeat.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have had a good car for quite a few years when I’ve come here with McLaren and I was privileged to have the opportunity with them and obviously now we are in a good position but now I don’t envisage tomorrow being a win for us.

“We’ve got a steep hill to climb tomorrow with these tyres and in these conditions. If we did win it would be a miracle and I would be really happy with it of course but I still feel the win is a while off.”

However he acknowledged that starting from pole was better than nothing: “It definitely helps. It’s very difficult to follow here. It’s a long way down to Turn One from the start but if you can get into Turn One first, try and hold your position then it’s definitely advantageous. But looking after the tyres in these conditions is going to be, as always, trouble.”

Kimi Raikkonen will start the Hungarian GP from only sixth place, three spots behind Lotus team mate Romain Grosjean.

Raikkonen, who missed the Silverstone test, admits that he’s struggled to get fully on top of the new tyres.

“Not ideal, but I think it’s been a difficult weekend so far for me,” said the Finn. “With the new tyres it’s more hard to get the car as I want. Qualifying wasn’t too bad, but I’m still missing a little bit of speed.

“We’ve seen a lot of places won or lost in the race in the past years. We’ll do our best, and if we can make the car work well on the tyres, we can make a lot of places, or it can go either way.”

Asked how he though the tyres would last, he said: “I have no idea, we’ll see tomorrow.”

The FIA and the F1 Group say that the long running saga of the Concorde Agreement is about to conclude.

The sport has operated without one since the end of last year, and the final hold-up involved arrangements between the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone, rather than the teams.

The two parties released a joint statement saying that the new seven-year deal is now just waiting for final approval and signatures:

The Formula 1 Group and the FIA have signed an agreement setting out the framework for implementation of the 2013 Concorde Agreement.

This agreement will come into force upon approval by the respective governing bodies of the signatory parties in the coming weeks.

Further information on this agreement will be available after receipt of such approval.

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has taken the pressure off Jean-Eric Vergne by confirming that the Frenchman will have a seat at the team next year.

Vergne dropped out of consideration for a Red Bull seat some weeks ago as Daniel Ricciardo became the man most likely to be promoted to the senior team. In recenet races Ricciardo has been clearly ahaead most of the time.

“I’m convinced that Jean-Eric Vergne will race next year for Toro Rosso,” said Tost today. “We must not forget that Jean-Eric came later into Formula One [than Ricciardo], and why Red Bull Racing is thinking about racing with Daniel Ricciardo next year, it’s simply because he is more experienced. He showed very good performance in the first half of the season but Jean-Eric Vergne is quite close to him. It’s not that Jean-Eric is out of the team. As far as I’m thinking, next year he is with Toro Rosso.”

Regarding the possibility of Ricciardo going to Red Bull, Tost said: “It’s not decided yet from Red Bull but we must not forget Dietrich Mateschitz and Red Bull bought Minardi in those days to give young drivers from the Red Bull driver pool a chance to come into Formula One.

“Toro Rosso is the team to educate young drivers and I see it as positive because it shows that a) drivers are skilled and b) that the team has done so far a good job – and therefore if they choose Daniel I am quite happy with this decision.”

Ominously for the opposition the Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber topped both sessions in Hungary today, although Lotus is keeping RBR on its toes.

Vettel was 0.287s ahead of third placed Kimi Raikkonen in the morning, and 0.153s in front of Romain Grosjean in the afternoon. The German remains cautious about his prospects.

“It’s the beginning of the weekend, and it’s good to have a certain speed in the car, which I think we have,” he said. “The car feels fine. But surely there’s a lot of work, and still quite some room for improvement.

“It was a good day for us I think, with quite some work in the background. It’s obviously always nice when you feel in control of the car and you can do what you like to play around. I think the car suits the track.”

Asked if he thought Red Bull could be dominant this weekend, he said: “I hope so! But I think it’s too early to tell. Surely practice one and practice two were very good for us, both of us, which I think was a bit of a surprise. You try to do what you can but you don’t know where the others are. I think tomorrow will be close so we need to make sure that we get everything out of the car tomorrow.”

Vettel said that the new tyres have not made much difference.

“Obviously we have no comparison here, but it’s a step in the right direction. It’s not a massive difference in the car, similar to the test last week, it’s very difficult to feel the difference. The most important thing is that the tyres are safe. So far nobody had any issues.”

Sebastian Vettel was one of the few leading race drivers to attend the recent Silverstone tyre test, and he now admits that he didn’t learn very much.

Race drivers were only allowed to try the new tyres, and not work on car developments.

“I think testing is always useful,” he said today. “Obviously the test last week was very limited in what we could do with the cars, so we probably didn’t learn that much – we couldn’t really change anything on the car, it was all about tyres. I think the circumstances were quite special in Silverstone, usually it’s never that hot. But it was still interesting.

“As I said we couldn’t do that many adjustments. We basically just put new tyres and fuel!”

Vettel doesn’t expect to see too many changes to the status quo this weekend.

“I think it was just to get a first feeling. The tyres don’t seem to be that different, which is good, because we haven’t asked for different tyres, we have asked for tyres that are safe.

“Therefore it’s difficult to know what to expect here, but I don’t expect it to be a massive change. I would be surprised if all of a sudden teams are struggling that didn’t struggle before, or the other way around.”

Lewis Hamilton expects Mercedes will have a difficult weekend in Hungary as the team could suffer more than rivals in the extremely hot conditions.

In addition the team has yet to test the latest Pirelli tyres, after being banned from the Silverstone test.

“It’s going to be tough this weekend definitely – the conditions will not help,” said Hamilton. “Plus, we haven’t driven the tyres as everyone else has. We’ve got a bit of catching up to do, but that’s what we do best and we just have to work as hard as we can this weekend to try to understand the tyres and put ourselves in the best position possible. We have a lot of work to do to continue to improve our race pace, but I anticipate it will be a difficult weekend.”

Hamilton expects teams to suffer aerodynamically as they create extra cooling.

“I’m sure everyone is going to have to open up their cars, so everyone is in the same boat in terms of car packaging and the heat that the cars are absorbing. Tyre-wise, of course there are teams that will deal with it slightly better than us, just naturally, and there are some people that will deal with it the same as us.”

Despite his reservations about the new tyres, Hamilton insisted he wasn’t worried about missing the Pirelli testing at Silverstone.

“To be honest, it doesn’t really faze me. I think it would have definitely helped if we were there and we have an understanding of how to set up the car with the new tyres and to see what kind of characteristics they have and how they behave on long runs and all those kind of things but we will try and find that out this weekend. At the end of the day, it is what it is and we will just try to do the best with what we’ve got. It’s a great team, I have no doubt that we will make up for the lost time.”

Jenson Button says he hasn’t ruled out McLaren winning a race this year – and expects the MP4-28 to be good enough to fight for the podium in the next race at Spa.

The Belgian track obviously favours good straightline speed, and ultimate downforce levels are not significant.

“We still want to win a race, and I think we still can win a race,” Button said in Hungary today. “It’s not going to be a complete bad year. I think we started the season and it was a tough few races. Sometimes that’s good for a team. I think the last race for us was a good step forward, and the morale is high after that race, which is good to see.

“Obviously we’re still not going to be happy with finishing sixth or fifth, we want to be fighting for wins. But I think for us to see a definite step forward in terms of performance was very positive in Nurburgring. And here we have some more parts, which should help us get close to the front. I don’t know what we’re going to do here in terms of where we’re going to finish, I don’t think anyone knows with these high temperatures.

“But Spa is a race that I’m really interested in and excited about fighting for a podium. I think that has to be our aim, and I think we can. It’s definitely moving forward. As I said the main aim is to win a Grand Prix this year, and Spa is at the moment probably the best race to go and look for that.

Asked why he thought Belgium would be good for the car, he added: “We understand that circuit, we understand what we should bring for that circuit in terms of aero, and also I think we’re chipping away with the car the whole time, finding things.

“One thing helps many different things on the car. It’s going in the right direction. And as a team maybe it’s a good thing that we’ve had issues. You start looking at every tiny detail and when you put it all together it can make a big difference.”

Red Bull has announced that the Austrian GP will return to the F1 calendar next year, with a provisional date of July 6.

The drinks company had made a late bid to host a race this season at the Red Bull Ring – formerly the A1 Ring – but it was unable to conclude a deal with Bernie Ecclestone.

The race was last held on the shortened version of the Osterreichring between 1997 and 2003, before it was dropped.