Lando Norris becomes the first non-Mercedes driver to take a pole position this season as he beats Hamilton by just 12 thousandths of a second at the Hungaroring.
Q1
Aston Martin had brought 16 upgrades to this weekend’s race after having looked miles off the pace in recent weeks, even compared to the second slowest car in Cadillac. Fortunately for them, the upgrades seemed to have worked, as Fernando Alonso was able to give the team its first Q2 appearance this season after going 16th fastest, though Stroll made a mistake on his final lap and pit, leaving him down in 20th.
Gabriel Bortoleto was at risk of elimination after having had his first time in Q1 deleted, and had to rely on making sure that his final lap was good enough for Q2. Fortunately for him, he was able to clear those in the elimination zone with relative ease, though it did mean that Bearman was pushed down into the bottom six and got eliminated.
ELIMINATED
17. Ollie Bearman – Haas +0.107
18. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.495
19. Alex Albon – Williams +0.532
20. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.533
21. Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac +0.760
22. Sergio Perez – Cadillac +1.196
Q2
A lot of drivers’ initial runs were ruined in Q2 as yellow flags came out after Isack Hadjar spun at turn 12, having gone onto the gravel on the corner’s exit. One of the drivers affected was Charles Leclerc, who was noted for a yellow flag infringement, but no penalty would come of this.
There were a couple of high profile drivers who found themselves at risk of a surprise early elimination towards the end of Q2, notably championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who had his best lap time deleted with only a couple minutes to spare. Fortunately for him, he had enough time to do another run, and was able to climb up to 6th place.
Another driver at risk was Charles Leclerc, who had been pushed down to 12th as the track seriously ramped up in its level of grip. He was able to also set another lap that was quick enough to save him from an early shower, but it was awfully close to disaster for the Ferrari driver.
ELIMINATED
11. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +0.126
12. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.205
13. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +0.388
14. Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi +0.466
15. Esteban Ocon – Haas +1.095
16. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +1.169
Q3
Ferrari were expected to do well at this circuit, and Lewis Hamilton would initially prove those assumptions correct by taking provisional pole position after all the drivers had completed their first laps, a tenth ahead of Norris, while Antonelli was down in 4th place.
There wasn’t much improvement to be seen initially as the drivers went out on their final flying laps. Neither Hamilton nor Leclerc managed to set a faster time, while Antonelli’s and Russell’s times were impeded by a yellow flag caused by Max Verstappen spinning at the final corner.
Lando Norris had no such issues with yellow flags though, and was able to make incremental improvements to his time, to a point that he was able to go fastest by just 12 thousandths of a second to become the first non-Mercedes driver to take a pole position this season.
Qualifying Results
1. Lando Norris – McLaren 1:17.207
2. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.012
3. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari+0.238
4. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.272
5. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.477
6. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.518
7. George Russell – Mercedes +0.553
8. Isack Hadjar – Red Bull +0.649
9. Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls +1.074
10. Nico Hulkenberg – Audi +1.479
