McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start the Hungarian Grand Prix on the front row with Lando setting a time just 0.022 seconds faster than Oscar.
Norris slotted in his eventual pole time, with one minute, 15.227 seconds, on his first run in Q3 as an effort to extend that advantage was halted by a late-session red flag caused by Yuki Tsunoda’s Turn 5 crash.
Max Verstappen had earlier set the quickest time at the start of Q3 with one minute, 15.555 seconds on his opening run, although stated that he wanted more front wing for a follow-up lap with new tyres after losing time in the middle sector.
That shortfall was put into perspective as Norris found over three tenths of a second, promoting to the top of the order to claim provisional pole.
Piastri then beat Verstappen’s first time on his next run, 0.022 seconds off of his teammate’s initial effort, and this also put him clear of Max’s next effort with a time of one minute, 15.273 seconds.
Yuki Tsunoda then produced a red flag with just over two minutes remaining, getting on the astroturf on the exit of Turn 5 and smashing his RB into the outside wall.
The session was restarted, although Verstappen did not take to the track as Red Bull did not believe it could improve its time on used tyres. This proved to be the case for those who did run, ensuring a front-row lockout for McLaren.
Carlos Sainz starts alongside Verstappen on the second row, while Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc collected fifth and sixth.
The Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were seventh and eighth, while Daniel Ricciardo moved up to ninth after improving on his post-red-flag lap, leaving Tsunoda in a provisional tenth position.
Hamilton narrowly made the cut into Q3, as none of the late laps from the Haas duo and Valtteri Bottas proved enough to dislodge the Mercedes driver from the top ten.
Nico Hulkenberg had managed to get a lap in, despite being tight for time after struggling to find space in the pitlane. Regardless, the Haas driver was just 0.01 seconds shy of Hamilton to collect a Q2 elimination with P11.
Bottas was P12, stating that the lap was “all I’ve got” as he jumped the Williams duo in the order.
Neither of the Williams drivers was particularly impressed over their laps; Alex Albon felt he should have gone out later to benefit from track evolution, while Logan Sargeant was displeased by traffic on his final lap. Kevin Magnussen completed the top 15.
Although there had been rainfall between the earlier Formula 2 race and the start of Formula 1 qualifying, the circuit had dried enough for soft tyres at the beginning of Q1.
Light rain had continued to fall throughout, but not at a rate that could stop the cars from drying the track with continued laps in the opening ten minutes of the session.
With the majority of drivers either set to switch to a second set of softs, or already out on a new set, Sergio Perez suffered a spin on the entry to Turn 8 resulted in a crash. The Red Bull lost grip on a presumed damp kerb, hurling Checo into the barrier to bring his session to an end and produce a red flag.
The circuit was slightly damp on the restart, but the conditions began to improve throughout the remaining six-and-a-half minutes. George Russell went out too soon, however, and although he managed to move up to P10 with his next lap on new softs, he was vulnerable at the end of the session.
As such, the improving conditions were underlined by Daniel Ricciardo’s moving up from the bottom five into first, which hindered those who had gone early.
Russell had pitted in the meantime having not had enough fuel on board to keep running, and soon moved towards the bottom five. He was thus unable to take advantage of the improving conditions and came to rest in P17 – behind Perez, who was also eliminated.
Zhou Guanyu improved on his final lap but could not break out of the bottom five to start P18, while the Alpines did not go out at all despite the final series of runs, dropping into the bottom two positions by the end of the session: Esteban Ocon starts ahead of Pierre Gasly.
Hungarian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.227
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:15.249
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.273
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:15.696
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.854
6 Chalres Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.905
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:16.043
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:16.244
9 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:16.447
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:16.477
11 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:16.317
12 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:16.384
13 Alex Albon Williams 1:16.429
14 Logan Sarganet Williams 1:16.543
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:16.548
16 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:17.886
17 George Russell Mercedes 1:17.968
18 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:18.037
19 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:18.049
20 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:18.166
George Russell was “angry” with his Q1 elimination from Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, labelling his drop into 17th as a “disaster” as he appeared to go out too soon in the latter stages of the session.
The red flag produced by Sergio Perez came as light rain had intensified slightly, and the circuit began to dampen during the 10-minute delay before the session could resume.
Mercedes elected to send Russell out in a bid to improve his time, which he eventually managed as he shuffled up to 10th, but he soon retreated to the pits as it became apparent he did not have enough fuel in the tank to keep going.
This left him vulnerable to a number of drivers who had gone out later in the session, and an improved lap from Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas consigned Russell to his drop into the elimination zone.
“It was on me at the beginning. I didn’t think it was going to rain again so I just thought, ‘the track will get quicker’,” Russell explained.
“I took it easy on lap one and suddenly it starts raining and that was the most important lap. But it didn’t matter, the end was the quickest and we had no fuel in the car to finish the session.
“No idea how that happened, and a total disaster.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/angry-russell-warns-mercedes-cant-afford-further-mistakes-after-hungary-q1-elimination/10636727/
Lando Norris has taken pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix after a dramatic qualifying session which featured wet-dry conditions, two red flags and a frantic final dash to the line.
After the McLaren man set an impressive provisional pole time of 1m 15.227s during the opening runs of Q3, the action was brought to a halt when Yuki Tsunoda suffered a heavy crash in the RB. As such, the session resumed with just over two minutes left on the clock.
Given changing weather conditions, most of the field were unable to improve and Norris retained P1, ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri by 0.022s. Max Verstappen – who opted not to put another lap in during the final moments – took third for Red Bull, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fourth and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the top five for Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc slotted into P6 for Ferrari, while Aston Martin had a decent outing as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll took P7 and P8 respectively. RB’s Daniel Ricciardo also enjoyed a solid day in P9, ahead of the aforementioned Tsunoda in P10.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/norris-clinches-pole-ahead-of-piastri-and-verstappen-during-dramatic.23bGvdPEPBHJJxu8qKvYsm
Sergio Perez reckons “it will be even sweeter” to prove his detractors wrong when he regains his Formula 1 form, following his Hungarian Grand Prix Q1 crash.
The Red Bull driver lost the rear end when entering the left-handed Turn 8, which pitched him into a spin. He came to rest in the barrier, causing a red flag and ultimately contributing to a provisional 16th place in qualifying – albeit with heavy damage to his car.
Feeling that he perhaps could have backed out of the lap, he was aware that it was an unwelcome addition to his poor run of form this season. He added that this made it difficult to face the media, but vowed to prove current speculation over his Red Bull future wrong – suggesting that it would be “sweeter” to handle questions if he manages to turn things around.
“I was just on a good lap. But in hindsight, probably we didn’t need that lap. It’s something we will review,” Perez said after his crash.
“But I think these conditions can catch out anyone, but unfortunately it has been me with two in a row. But I mean, I’m determined to turn things around.
“It’s obviously quite hard to face all the media after these difficult moments. But you know, I think when we get back to it, it will be even sweeter.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perez-will-be-sweeter-to-turn-around-f1-form-amid-future-speculation-after-hungary-qualifying-crash/10636782/