After setting the fastest time in the final qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for Mercedes-AMG F1 for the race on Sunday. His teammate Valtteri Bottas was the second-fastest allowing for a Mercedes front-row lockout. But the surprise or not so surprise came from the pink twins of Racing Point locking out the second row of the grid ahead of the two Ferraris in the third row. Qualifying began with a 19% chance of rain, while some precipitation was noticed, the rain gods refrained from spoiling the parade at the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.
When Q1 started, all drivers had set their times and the top runners were waiting comfortably at the top of the standings. But with three minutes remaining, the Williams of George Russel set a blistering time that put him third fastest. This triggered the whole grid to leave their garages to ensure they didn’t lose out as the track started to evolve dramatically all of a sudden.
Both the Williams qualified to Q2 with a stunning performance, which eliminated Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat, Romain Grosjean along with the two Alfa Romeo cars of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen who failed to improve on the evolving track making them only team to have not made it through to Q2 this season yet.
After the top 15 set their first set of times for Q2, the Mercedes cars of Hamilton and Bottas topped the charts with Vettel in the Ferrari in third. But Leclerc’s time was only 11th fastest in the second Ferrari and was at the risk of being limited after Q2.
On their second outings, Leclerc improved to make it through to Q3 which eliminated Daniel Ricciardo being pushed out of Q2 for Renault with George Russel for the second weekend in a row being the 12th fastest driver of the day for Williams. Surprisingly it was Alex Albon of Red Bull who could not improve his time and was eliminated and will start behind Russell from 13th. The second Renault of Esteban Ocon will start the race on Sunday from 14th with the rookie-driver Nicolas Latifi starting 15th in the second Williams.
Among the top 10 cars that made it through to Q3, most of them used the soft compound tyres. But the Racing Point cars of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll took a gamble and made it through to Q3 on a set of medium tyres which will allow them to start the race with a different strategy for the race, which should spice things up on Sunday.
In Q3, on their final hot laps, Hamilton improved on his time to extend his chances of pole position. Meanwhile, Bottas was unable to set a time faster than Hamilton, although their times allowed them to claim the front row of the grid for the race. The Racing Point cars showed their might and seem to have elevated them to now a front running team as Lance Stroll set the third fastest time during the session, albeit almost a second off of Hamilton’s pace. Sergio Perez in the other Racing Point set the fourth-fastest time to confirm a second-row lockout for Racing Point and both cars will start the race on medium tyres.
The two Ferrari’s performed their best qualifying yet this season with both cars making it to Q3. The Ferraris have locked out the third row of the grid with Sebastian Vettel starting from P5 ahead of Charles Leclerc in P6. Max Verstappen suffered engine issues during the session and was able to improve his time leaving him to start seventh on the grid ahead of the two McLaren cars of Norris and Sainz in eighth and ninth on the grid respectively. Pierre Gasly in the Alpha Tauri will start from 10th after failing to leave his garage in Q3 following electrical issues carried over from Q2.