George Russell has earned a surprising first career pole position in qualifying for the Hungarian GP.
George Russell has earned a stunning first career pole position in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver clocked an impressive time of 1'17.377 on his last lap in Q3 and beat the Ferrari drivers.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had to settle for second and third, respectively, ahead of Lando Norris' McLaren.
Max Verstappen faced technical problems during the decisive segment - reporting a loss of power over the radio - and finished only 10th.
Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were fifth and sixth, while Russell's teammate Lewis Hamilton was no further than seventh after a DRS problem.
Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo also qualified ahead of Verstappen.
Sergio Perez's difficult weekend continued when he was eliminated in Q2 for the sixth consecutive year at the Hungaroring circuit.
Initially, Perez had a time deleted for exceeding track limits, but the stewards reversed their decision and reinstated the Mexican's lap.
With that initial effort leaving him in the elimination zone, he was forced to make another attempt, but was unable to improve and fell to 11th, 0.071s off the cut-off time.
In a radio message after the checkered flag in Q2, Perez claimed to have been hindered by Kevin Magnussen (Haas).
Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Magnussen himself, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Mick Schumacher (Haas) were the others eliminated.
AlphaTauri and Williams ended their participation already in the first segment, along with Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) - who was unable to recover from his crash in TL3.
Yuki Tsunoda narrowly missed a place in Q2 in 16th, followed by Alex Albon, who apologized to Williams over the radio on his return to the pits.
Vettel was only 18th after some quick repairs in the Aston Martin garage, with Pierre Gasly in 19th due to the loss of his best lap for exceeding track limits.
After leading TL3, Nicholas Latifi came back to reality on a dry track, finishing last. He also apologized over the radio for a mistake in the last corner on his final lap.
Check out the grid:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:18.407 | 1:18.154 | 1:17.377 | 23 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:18.434 | 1:17.946 | 1:17.421 | 22 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:18.806 | 1:17.768 | 1:17.567 | 22 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 1:18.653 | 1:18.121 | 1:17.769 | 19 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 1:18.866 | 1:18.216 | 1:18.018 | 20 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine Renault | 1:18.716 | 1:17.904 | 1:18.078 | 17 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:18.374 | 1:18.035 | 1:18.142 | 21 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo Ferrari | 1:18.935 | 1:18.445 | 1:18.157 | 20 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren Mercedes | 1:18.775 | 1:18.198 | 1:18.379 | 19 |
| 10 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull RBPT | 1:18.509 | 1:17.703 | 1:18.823 | 21 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull RBPT | 1:19.118 | 1:18.516 | 16 | |
| 12 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo Ferrari | 1:18.973 | 1:18.573 | 16 | |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:18.993 | 1:18.825 | 18 | |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:19.205 | 1:19.137 | 16 | |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas Ferrari | 1:19.164 | 1:19.202 | 16 | |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri RBPT | 1:19.240 | 9 | ||
| 17 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | 1:19.256 | 10 | ||
| 18 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:19.273 | 10 | ||
| 19 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri RBPT | 1:19.527 | 9 | ||
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 1:19.570 | 10 |