The pole-position for the Hungarian GP is George Russell! In a surprising way, the Englishman beat the favorites to take the Mercedes to pole
Ferrari, Red Bull or Nicholas Latifi: who would get the upper hand in the Hungarian GP's quest for pole? Of course, Latifi leading TL3, disputed hours earlier, was a surprise, but also a result of circumstances. When it really came down to it, late this morning (30), at the Hungaroring circuit, the two main teams on the grid were evenly matched. And none of the four cars from the two escuderias started at the front. A surprising George Russell beat the portfolio of the favorites and took the position of honor.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and INREAL TIME all the activities of the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. On Sunday, the race is scheduled to start at 10:00 am [GMT-3].
Check out how the qualifying went:
Q1 - Hamilton rides at the front, but Latifi dismounts after morning story
Forget the heat of Friday, with temperatures close to 60°C on the asphalt, and also leave aside the rain from the third free practice session a few hours earlier. The weather for the starting grid for the Hungarian GP was dry and mild: 22°C ambient temperature and 31°C on the asphalt. Some heavy clouds were lurking, but, at least for the moment, there was no rain.
If Sebastian Vettel's situation was worrying after his crash at the end of TL3, everything was fine with him: the four-time champion was inside the cockpit and ready to take the track after Aston Martin left the AMR22 in conformity. Including high expectations to see the green car in action with the new rear wings, which aroused curiosity in the paddock.
Mercedes and Red Bull took a while to get out in TL3, but went immediately to the track in qualifying. Ferrari went the other way and, along with McLaren and Alpine, took a little longer. Max Verstappen blew away the laps of the other teams' drivers in his initial attempt, clocking 1min19s020. For comparison, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were 1min19s7 and 1min19s8 respectively. Even Max's lap was still high for what was expected from the rest of the day.
The Ferrari's painted after five minutes and came in for the timed laps right when the times dropped the most. Initially, they didn't show much, but soon Carlos Sainz did 1min18s561, while Charles Leclerc was at 1min18s806. Verstappen took his time to 1min18s509. Lando Norris was another one to drop below 1min19s.
Mick Schumacher still had no fast lap even after ten minutes of Q1, as his lap was cancelled due to track limits, but Haas didn't have much left, as Kevin Magnussen was only 16th and was fighting with Yuki Tsunoda for the first qualifying spot.
Hamilton went for one more try, and with three minutes to go, he clocked 1min18s374 to take the lead in Q1. Russell stuck to him, only 0s033s behind and went into second, with Sainz painting in third. Verstappen and Leclerc had already finished Q1 safely ahead.
The fight was below. Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas, who had even appeared to be a threat, came out of the heat. The fight was really between Haas, AlphaTauri, Aston Martin and Williams. The American team was saved with good runs by Magnussen and Schumacher in the end, so there was only room for one more.
Nicholas Latifi, the TL3 leader, came into the final lap in flying fashion. He had the best first stint of qualifying, was very reasonable in the second stint, and when he seemed assured of Q2, he made a mistake at the last corner and didn't improve his lap. He ended up in 20th place. So, Lance Stroll was the one who saved himself.
Yuki Tsunoda, Alexander Albon, Sebastian Vettel, Pierre Gasly, and Latifi were the eliminated drivers.
Q2 - Heaven and hell at Red Bull: Verstappen leads and Pérez is eliminated
In the same way as before, Mercedes decided to come out on track to start the second qualifying session. Hamilton locked tires on the opening corner of what was the first fast lap and was right behind Russell.
In Ferrari, Leclerc was better than Sainz, but neither of them took the lead. This one fell to Norris, who shows he understands the Hungaroring track very well: 1min18s121. But it was only until Verstappen recorded time. The World Championship leader did 1min17s703.
Sergio Pérez came behind and set the third fastest time, but that was cancelled for disrespecting the track limits at turn five. Minutes later, the stewards talked it over and decided to cancel the cancellation: they went back and desisted from deleting Pérez's time, because they understood there was no infraction. When the time returned, however, it was for ninth place.
Fernando Alonso put the Alpine in third, behind Verstappen and Leclerc, who had also improved his time. Besides them, Sainz was another who had done laps around 1min17s.
With five minutes to the end of Q2, the elimination zone was pulsating. Pérez was ninth, while Russell had improved his lap to go seventh. Would they pass?
The Mexican driver was not even on track for the final two minutes. On the last fast lap, he complained about being blocked by Magnussen and did not improve. From the big screen, he saw Bottas and Ocon leapfrog his times and take him off the grid. Pérez, with Red Bull and everything, with all the difficulties he showed during the weekend, will start 11th.
Besides him, Zhou, Magnussen, Stroll and Schumacher, in that order, were also eliminated. The ten drivers competing for pole were Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso, Sainz, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Ricciardo, Ocon, and Bottas.
Q3 - Saturday's surprise of the year: Russell shines and takes pole
No one cared to hold tires for Q3: the track filled up with all ten drivers as if by magic. Ocon was the first to enter the clock, but soon Leclerc would make 1min17s985. Was it good? Not good enough, because Sainz ran over when he reached 1min17s505.
Russell came good and split the two Ferrari drivers to put Mercedes in second position. Verstappen, on the other hand, made a mistake, locked up his tires and went out of the corner. The Dutchman's time was worth only seventh place, ahead of Ocon, Bottas, and Ricciardo.
The track emptied for everyone to recover and prepare for the final attempt. When they started to come back, problems for Verstappen. "I have no power," he said. The Red Bull engineer asked him to wait and, after seconds, told him to switch the engine to 'Fail 21' mode. Verstappen reiterated: he had no power.