Lando Norris has taken pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix after a dramatic qualifying session which featured wet-dry conditions, two red flags and a frantic final dash to the line.
After the McLaren man set an impressive provisional pole time of 1m 15.227s during the opening runs of Q3, the action was brought to a halt when Yuki Tsunoda suffered a heavy crash in the RB. As such, the session resumed with just over two minutes left on the clock.
Given changing weather conditions, most of the field were unable to improve and Norris retained P1, ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri by 0.022s. Max Verstappen – who opted not to put another lap in during the final moments – took third for Red Bull, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fourth and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the top five for Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc slotted into P6 for Ferrari, while Aston Martin had a decent outing as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll took P7 and P8 respectively. RB’s Daniel Ricciardo also enjoyed a solid day in P9, ahead of the aforementioned Tsunoda in P10.
Nico Hulkenberg only just missed out on progressing to Q3 by one hundredth of a second in the Haas, while Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas also failed to make it through in P12.
Despite a promising showing earlier on, the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant dropped out of Q2 in 13th and 14th places, along with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen in 15th.
There was significant drama in Q1, with Sergio Perez bringing out the red flags after hitting the barriers in the Red Bull. Having been unable to continue, the Mexican ended the day in P16. Also eliminated was George Russell in P17, with the Mercedes man having seemingly put his lap in too early.
Zhou Guanyu took 18th place in the Kick Sauber, while Alpine’s decision not to put another lap in during the final minutes backfired as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly exited in 19th and 20th respectively.