Sauber's Nico Hülkenberg says he is hopeful of fighting for points in the Hungarian Grand Prix, having been close to reaching the final qualifying phase on Saturday.

The German, who wound up just 24 thousandths of a second slower than tenth-placed Sergio Pérez in the second knockout session, will start the race from 12th position, sharing the sixth row of the grid with Force India driver Adrian Sutil.

"It was just eight hundredths of a second to P8, even less to P10," said Hülkenberg. "The midfield is very tight at the moment. But I'm not disappointed, because I did a very good lap and this was pretty much the maximum I was able to get out of the car."

"We can be fairly happy with P12, as realistically that’s where we are, and we can race from there. I'll have to get a good start and can hopefully battle for one or two points."

Team-mate Esteban Gutiérrez suffered his sixth Q1 exit of the season and starts 18th.