Lewis Hamilton took pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix by pipping Max Verstappen by simply three-thousandths of a second.

Verstappen was on provisional pole place on the chequered flag earlier than Hamilton managed to grab it from him along with his closing effort to take his 104th pole place and his first for the reason that 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will begin on the second row, with Zhou Guanyu fifth for Alfa Romeo.

Q1

With the Various Tyre Allocation format in impact for this weekend, qualifying took on a unique have a look at the Hungaroring, most strikingly within the opening part of the session. All 20 drivers had been required to run solely exhausting compound tyres for the primary section, and plenty of of them had not put a single lap on the white-walled tyre all through observe.

The 2 Alpine drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, had been the primary to publish occasions within the session, however their excessive 1’19s had been simply crushed by the Crimson Bull of Sergio Perez posting a 1’19.292. Valtteri Bottas put Alfa Romeo quickest of all with a 1’18.818, which even Max Verstappen was unable to match, going second quickest.

Monitor limits rapidly turned a priority for drivers, as 5 of them had having laps deleted for exceeding observe limits within the first half of the session. Oscar Piastri, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and the 2 Williams drivers, Alexander Albon every misplaced a lap for failing to remain throughout the white strains at 4 completely different factors across the lap.

Verstappen improved to maneuver to the highest of the occasions forward of Bottas, whereas his Crimson Bull crew mate Perez pitted for a second set of exhausting tyres in a bid to enhance.

With 5 minutes remaining, Ferrari had motive to be involved as Charles Leclerc was sat within the drop zone in sixteenth, alone with Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg, Sargeant and Magnussen. Leclerc put a brand new set of exhausting tyres on to leap as much as third, with Stroll additionally shifting into the highest ten. That demoted Carlos Sainz Jnr and Lewis Hamilton into hazard, however the Ferrari driver went simply faster than his crew mate to go secure.

Hamilton had left the places behind crew mate George Russell, however was advised by race engineer Peter Bonnington they had been free to “invert”, and so handed the opposite W14 approaching W14. He could have been glad he did so, as Hamilton went on to flee the drop zone regardless of encountering a site visitors jam on the finish of the lap.

Russell was not so lucky, nevertheless. He was handed by a number of drivers as he approached the ultimate nook earlier than starting his closing run. His final try noticed him eradicated in 18th, to his extreme frustration.

“It’s a shitshow,” fumed Russell. “What was that? Don’t inform me we’re out.” Musconi confirmed he was. “Fucking hell!”

The cut-off line to achieve Q2 was extremely tremendous. Daniel Ricciardo made it in on his return by a hundredth of a second, denying Alexander Albon. Yuki Tsunoda was simply two-thousandths slower than the Williams. After Russell, Magnussen and Sargeant had been the ultimate two drivers knocked out from the session.

Q1 outcome

Place
Quantity
Driver
Group
Mannequin
Time
Hole
Laps

1
24
Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo-Ferrari
C43
1’18.143

10

2
1
Max Verstappen
Crimson Bull-Honda RBPT
RB19
1’18.318
0.175
9

3
11
Sergio Perez
Crimson Bull-Honda RBPT
RB19
1’18.360
0.217
8

4
55
Carlos Sainz Jnr
Ferrari
SF-23
1’18.393
0.250
9

5
16
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
SF-23
1’18.440
0.297
9

6
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren-Mercedes
MCL60
1’18.464
0.321
9

7
44
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
W14
1’18.577
0.434
8

8
14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin-Mercedes
AMR23
1’18.580
0.437
9

9
27
Nico Hulkenberg
Haas-Ferrari
VF-23
1’18.695
0.552
8

10
4
Lando Norris
McLaren-Mercedes
MCL60
1’18.697
0.554
11

11
10
Pierre Gasly
Alpine-Renault
A523
1’18.743
0.600
10

12
77
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo-Ferrari
C43
1’18.775
0.632
8

13
18
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin-Mercedes
AMR23
1’18.782
0.639
10

14
31
Esteban Ocon
Alpine-Renault
A523
1’18.854
0.711
10

15
3
Daniel Ricciardo
AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT
AT04
1’18.906
0.763
9

16
23
Alexander Albon
Williams-Mercedes
FW45
1’18.917
0.774
8

17
22
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT
AT04
1’18.919
0.776
9

18
63
George Russell
Mercedes
W14
1’19.027
0.884
9

19
20
Kevin Magnussen
Haas-Ferrari
VF-23
1’19.206
1.063
8

20
2
Logan Sargeant
Williams-Mercedes
FW45
1’19.248
1.105
8

Q2

For the second session of qualifying, drivers had been now restricted to solely the medium compound tyres. The beginning of Q2 was way more quiet in comparison with the primary part, with Perez and Stroll the one drivers to set occasions within the opening minutes earlier than the remainder of the sphere started to peel out of the pit lane.

Perez set the preliminary benchmark with a 1’17.675, and when that appeared to have been crushed by his crew mate Verstappen, the championship chief’s first effort was deleted for working outdoors of the white strains on the exit of flip 5.

The 2 McLarens jumped to the highest of the occasions with Lando Norris setting the tempo on a 1’17.328, two tenths quicker than crew mate Piastri. Perez was third within the Crimson Bull forward of Fernando Alonso and Hamilton, as the sphere all returned to the pits with round six minutes remaining.

Verstappen’s deleted first lap meant he sat on the backside of the leaderboard with solely 5 minutes left within the session. He took benefit of a completely clear observe to set a purple first sector and publish a time ok for second, splitting the 2 McLaren drivers.

That left Esteban Ocon, Bottas, Ricciardo, Gasly and Stroll all in peril as all of them ready for his or her final efforts of Q2. Stroll failed to flee the drop zone along with his closing lap, and Ricciardo was unable to safe a Q3 berth on his return to F1.

Bottas jumped into the highest 5 along with his closing lap, with Gasly having his closing time deleted for exceeding observe limits, dooming him to be out in fifteenth. On the chequered flag, Bottas’ enchancment value Sainz, who was eradicated in eleventh place by simply two thousandths of a second. Including insult to harm, his crew mate delivered the killer blow as he claimed a spot within the closing 10.

The highest ten drivers reaching Q3 had been separated by a complete of simply 0.373s, with each Alfa Romeo drivers progressing to Q3 for the primary time this season.

Q2 outcome

Place
Quantity
Driver
Group
Mannequin
Time
Hole
Laps

1
4
Lando Norris
McLaren-Mercedes
MCL60
1’17.328

14

2
44
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
W14
1’17.427
0.099
14

3
1
Max Verstappen
Crimson Bull-Honda RBPT
RB19
1’17.547
0.219
15

4
77
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo-Ferrari
C43
1’17.563
0.235
14

5
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren-Mercedes
MCL60
1’17.571
0.243
14

6
16
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
SF-23
1’17.580
0.252
15

7
27
Nico Hulkenberg
Haas-Ferrari
VF-23
1’17.652
0.324
14

8
11
Sergio Perez
Crimson Bull-Honda RBPT
RB19
1’17.675
0.347
17

9
24
Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo-Ferrari
C43
1’17.700
0.372
16

10
14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin-Mercedes
AMR23
1’17.701
0.373
15

11
55
Carlos Sainz Jnr
Ferrari
SF-23
1’17.703
0.375
15

12
31
Esteban Ocon
Alpine-Renault
A523
1’17.841
0.513
16

13
3
Daniel Ricciardo
AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT
AT04
1’18.002
0.674
15

14
18
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin-Mercedes
AMR23
1’18.144
0.816
18

15
10
Pierre Gasly
Alpine-Renault
A523
1’18.217
0.889
16

Q3

With the highest 10 extremely shut collectively in Q2, the struggle for pole place gave the impression to be as open because it had been all season. Now the principles required drivers to run on mushy tyres within the closing part of qualifying, making little distinction to a standard qualifying session.

Perez headed Alonso in a queue of two vehicles on the finish of the pit lane earlier than the inexperienced gentle appeared on the finish to start the ultimate 12 minute session. By the point the Crimson Bull driver began his push lap, all ten vehicles had been on the circuit sporting a contemporary set of sentimental tyres.

Perez set the preliminary benchmark with a 1’17.142, however that was simply crushed by Norris on his first effort, going beneath the 1’17 barrier for the primary time. Neither Alonso nor Leclerc may match the McLaren, however Verstappen may, posting the provisional pole time of a 1’16.612 nearly three tenths faster than Norris.

Hamilton was the closest to Verstappen after the primary runs, with the Mercedes simply over a tenth away from the Crimson Bull. Zhou Guanyu had his first lap deleted for observe limits at flip 12, however his first effort was the slowest of the ten remaining runners, leaving him in tenth simply behind Piastri.

The observe fell silent as all drivers pitted to suit a brand new set of sentimental tyres for his or her closing run of qualifying. Hulkenberg led out the sphere with Perez once more forward of his crew mate, however Leclerc handed Verstappen on the out lap to separate the Crimson Bulls heading into the ultimate flying lap.

Whereas Perez and Verstappen didn’t enhance on their first sectors, Leclerc did. Perez improved his time however not his place as Leclerc jumped forward of him to fourth. Verstappen additionally failed to enhance on his time, leaving the door open to his rivals behind.

Piastri moved to fourth on his second lap, as Norris went quickest within the center sector. Regardless of his benefit, Norris couldn’t beat Verstappen’s pole time and was slightly below a tenth of a second brief on the chequered flag.

That left solely Hamilton who may deny Verstappen a sixth consecutive pole place and, remarkably, the Mercedes driver did simply that. He pipped the world champion by three-thousandths of a second to take Mercedes’ first pole of the season.

Verstappen was crushed to second on the grid, with Norris behind the 2 champions in third forward of crew mate Piastri. Zhou secured his finest ever qualifying place in fifth, forward of Leclerc and crew mate Bottas. Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the highest ten positions.

Q3 outcome

Place
Quantity
Driver
Group
Mannequin
Time
Hole
Laps

1
44
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
W14
1’16.609

20

2
1
Max Verstappen
Crimson Bull-Honda RBPT
RB19
1’16.612
0.003
21

3
4
Lando Norris
McLaren-Mercedes
MCL60
1’16.694
0.085
20

4
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren-Mercedes
MCL60
1’16.905
0.296
20

5
24
Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo-Ferrari
C43
1’16.971
0.362
22

6
16
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
SF-23
1’16.992
0.383
21

7
77
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo-Ferrari
C43
1’17.034
0.425
20

8
14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin-Mercedes
AMR23
1’17.035
0.426
21

9
11
Sergio Perez
Crimson Bull-Honda RBPT
RB19
1’17.045
0.436
23

10
27
Nico Hulkenberg
Haas-Ferrari
VF-23
1’17.186
0.577
20

2023 Hungarian Grand Prix

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