Romain Grosjean says new tyres not central to his improved form at Hungarian GP

Romain Grosjean believes his sudden upturn in form is not linked to Pirelli's tyre changes despite the Frenchman conclusively outperforming title-chasing team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying in Hungary.

Friday had represented Grosjean's first chance to sample the new-look tyres after Lotus had used neither of their race drivers at last week's Silverstone test and the former GP2 Champion says he has been pleased with how his work understanding the rubber has gone. He now hopes Lotus's renowned tyre-wear strengths can play into his hands across what is set to be a demanding 70-lap race on Sunday. "It has been a good weekend so far trying to get on top of the new tyres and we did pretty well," Grosjean told Sky Sports F1. "It's not always perfect but we're getting there and we have a strong baseline since Bahrain where we keep working hard and improving ourselves. Today is a good result for the team and myself. Tomorrow is going to be hot and very long so we need good tyre degradation and then we can do our best." With polesitter Lewis Hamilton having already admitted it will be a "miracle" if Mercedes can convert pole into race victory, the battle for the final win before the summer break could, initially at least, be a repeat of the Nurburgring race when Grosjean hunted down Vettel. The Lotus man certainly isn't ruling out the prospect of taking his first win at the top level: "Well, I think it's open, but we'll see that in the race. I'm going to give my best, as always, and then after 70 laps we'll see."