Hamilton: Red Bulls are too fast for us
Red Bull have dominated this weekend's proceedings in Budapest, culminating in a 1-2 in qualifying where Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber easily outpaced their rivals.
And although Ferrari came the closest to matching them, third-placed Fernando Alonso was over a second slower than Vettel with his team-mate right Felipe Massa right behind him.
Hamilton was left to settle for best of the non-Red Bulls and Ferraris, afterwards admitting he just did not have the pace to challenge them.
"It was really my target. Well, your target is always pole, but the Red Bulls are impossible to beat – they are 1.7secs ahead," he told the BBC.
"For Jenson and me, we just look at the onboard footage and laugh. I don't know what they are doing, but it's incredible.
"It was possible I could get close to Massa, but I don't think I could have beaten him today. I pulled every inch out of the car and I'm happy with the job I did.
"We've got to work hard but it's a good position to start tomorrow. It's a long haul down to Turn One so anything's possible. Fourth or third would be spectacular."