Hamilton storms to F1 Hungarian GP pole with Verstappen third
The seven-time world champion was untouchable in Q3 as he set a blistering pace on a 1m15.419s to achieve a record-breaking eighth pole at the Hungaroring.
Hamilton headed a Mercedes front-row lockout with Valtteri Bottas over three-tenths behind his teammate, while championship leader Max Verstappen could only manage third, 0.421s adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark.
A seemingly slow out-lap from Hamilton before the second runs began backed up the Red Bull pair and ultimately meant Sergio Perez failed to start his final flying lap in time, while Verstappen could only improve by a tenth.
Intriguingly, Mercedes and Red Bull have opted for alternative strategies for Sunday’s grand prix, with Hamilton and Bottas set to start on mediums, with Verstappen and Perez favouring softs.
Behind Perez, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly claimed best of the rest spot with a brilliant lap to take fifth, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was seventh ahead of the Alpine duo led by Esteban Ocon, with the Frenchman narrowly pipping Fernando Alonso to P8.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel completed the rest of the top-10 for Aston Martin.
It was another frustrating day for Daniel Ricciardo as he missed out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.077s.
The McLaren driver edged out Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin for 11th, while Kimi Raikkonen outpaced Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi by a tenth to take 13th.
Q2 was interrupted by a red flag caused by Carlos Sainz, who crashed out of qualifying at the final corner.
The Spaniard lost control mid-corner before sliding into the barriers, eliminating him from the session and leaving him a disappointing 15th on the grid for Sunday’s race.
AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out in Q1 in 16th, while George Russell failed to make it through to Q2 for the first time this season.
The Briton did however continue his 100% record of out-qualifying his Williams teammates in F1, having shaded Nicholas Latifi by a tenth.
With Haas unable to fix Mick Schumacher’s car in time to contest qualifying following his big final practice shunt, the German’s teammate Nikita Mazepin was the slowest driver in qualifying as he finished 19th.
Full qualifying results for the 2021 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
