Lewis Hamilton has set a new record for most poles at one racetrack by pinching the fastest time from Max Verstappen in a thrilling qualifying hour at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The fight for pole was delicately poised at the end of the first laps of Q3. Verstappen had strung together a lap for provisional pole, but his advantage was a slender 0.126s ahead of Hamilton.
The Dutchman has been unhappy with the balance of his Red Bull machine all weekend, and that discomfort was evident at several moments throughout qualifying. He lost a lap in Q2 to track limits, forcing him to burn through a second set of tires. But the greatest cost came on his final in Q3 when he attempted to seal the deal for pole. Verstappen failed to improve on his first lap, falling short of his personal bests in the first and last sectors, gifting the initiative to former title rival Hamilton.
The Briton seized his opportunity with a slick lap comprising three green splits to pip the Dutchman by a slender 0.003s. It was Hamilton’s ninth pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a new record for most poles at a single track. The previous record of eight was jointly held Michael Schumacher in Japan and Ayrton Senna in San Marino. Hamilton also has eight poles in Australia.
“It’s been a crazy year and a half,” Hamilton said, reflecting on the almost 20 months since his last pole, at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. “I’ve lost my voice from shouting so much in the car. It’s amazing, that feeling.
“We’ve been pushing so hard over this time. To finally get that pole, it feels like the first time.
“I didn’t expect coming today that we’d be fighting for pole. When I went into that last run I gave it absolutely everything. There was nothing left in it.”
Verstappen was despondent following his narrow defeat, lamenting that the team hasn’t been able to set up the car for this track all weekend.
“I’ve been struggling all weekend to find a good balance,” he said. “Every session has been up and down. Today in qualifying was also very difficult to be confident to attack corners.
“We’re still second, but we should be ahead with the car we have normally. So far this weekend we haven’t been on it.”
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Lando Norris came close to compound Verstappen’s disappointment with a strong final lap that put him just 0.082s further back in third. It was a big tick for McLaren’s aerodynamic overhaul of recent rounds, so much so that Norris was himself disappointed to not snatch pole position.
“Within a tenth of pole — it feels like you should be on pole if you put the lap together,” Norris said. “As a driver I’m not the happiest. I made too many mistakes, and that cost me today.
“P3 is still a good position for tomorrow. It’s still a good day.”
Norris was backed up by teammate Oscar Piastri in fourth, 0.211s further back, making McLaren the only team to get two cars in the top five.
Zhou Guanyu qualified a career-best fifth on a competitive weekend for Alfa Romeo, pipping Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.021s. Alfa teammate Valtteri Bottas followed in seventh.
Fernando Alonso was only eighth quickest for Aston Martin and 0.426s off the pace, but he managed to beat Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull Racing car by 0.01s. Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 on a strong day in his Haas machine.
Qualifying was run to an alternative format this weekend, with drivers required to use hard tires in Q1 and mediums in Q2. Most teams struggled to find a setup that preserved a good balance on all three compounds, and the biggest losers were Carlos Sainz, who was knocked out in 11th, and George Russell, who was eliminated in 18th.
Alpine suffered a double Q2 elimination, with Esteban Ocon out in 12th and Pierre Gasly out in 15th. The lower placed Frenchman had his final time deleted for track limits, but that lap would have gained him only on place on the grid.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified 13th in his comeback race and will started four places ahead of AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Lance Stroll will line up 14th for Aston Martin, while Alex Albon was knocked out 16th ahead of Tsunoda, who were 0.011s and 0.013s short of the cut-off time respectively.
Last year’s polesitter Russell will start 18th after a poor final lap hampered by traffic. The Briton lamented traffic in the final corners of his preparation lap that left him with tires not up to temperature, which cost him crucial time in the first sector and cascaded into losses around the rest of the lap.
Kevin Magnussen will start 19th ahead of Logan Sargeant, whose scruffy last lap saw him hopping over the curbs.
