Hungary – Qualifying: Hamilton imperial poleman, Mercedes increasingly dominant

Q1: Under a threatening sky, the Williams astonish, the Ferrari-powered ones disappoint.

The leaders rush to get out at the beginning of the session. Indeed, the weather forecasts predict rain fairly quickly. Therefore, this first part of the qualifying session starts under high tension, with a possibility of traffic jams on the track.

Max Verstappen sets an initial benchmark of 1:16.136, followed by Hamilton with 1:15.581, then Bottas with 1:15.484. Finally, the two Racing Points displace the two Red Bulls from the third and fourth positions. Charles Leclerc is fifth. Only the Renaults try an alternate strategy. Ocon quickly secures his position, while Daniel Ricciardo has to make a second attempt.

Midway through the session, Lewis Hamilton regains the advantage as Latifi, Räikkönen, Grosjean, Magnussen, and Giovinazzi fight to try to get off the list of drivers stuck in Q1.

For Pierre Gasly, the weekend is complicated, after recurring engine power issues in free practice, he is once again facing this problem in Q1, which threatens his advancement to Q2.

At the end of the session, the track improves rapidly, allowing Pérez to take the lead, followed by Stroll, with Russell even briefly in third place. This forces all the drivers to go back out at the last minute for the final two minutes. Sebastian Vettel is the first to get a clear lap for this final rush, but he makes a mistake at the beginning of the lap and encounters traffic in the last corners, so his improvement is minimal.

Finally, blocked in Q1: Magnussen, Kvyat, Grosjean, Giovinazzi, and Räikkönen. Five drivers leaving the field open for the two Williams to defend their chances in Q2.

Q2: Big disappointment for the Renault drivers and disillusionment for Alex Albon, George Russell surprisingly performance.

Three teams choose to make a first attempt on yellow tires: Mercedes, Racing Point, and Renault. This choice is strange and risky for the French team. George Russell is the first to set a reference time of 1:15.698. He is quickly beaten by Lance Stroll and then Sergio Perez. They attempt to pass Q1 with these tires but are far from the Mercedes times, especially Hamilton with a 1:14.261. He has simply broken the track record… On medium tires. The DAS plays a significant role during the installation lap. Indeed, it allows the tires to reach optimal temperature for the timed lap. At the end of this first batch of laps, the potential eliminations are Leclerc (who completely missed his second sector), George Russell, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, and Nicholas Latifi.

Finally, the rain still hasn’t appeared, and Q2 continues on a dry track.

Pierre Gasly is still experiencing slight engine cuts but will have to manage with them for the rest of his session.

There are just over two minutes left when the fifteen drivers set off to attack the Hungaroring for their last attempt to make it into Q3. Pérez makes several mistakes and will not improve, just like Ricciardo. It doesn’t matter for the Mexican who finishes ninth, but it’s different for the Australian who ends up in eleventh place. Most drivers have difficulties improving in the last sector. Finally, Charles Leclerc finishes this session in fourth position and Verstappen third. His Thai teammate looks grim; a timing error to come out of the pits prevents him from improving his reference time, leaving him stuck in Q2. This won’t help his already uncertain future at Red Bull, especially since Pierre Gasly manages to make it into Q3 despite his mechanical issues.

The drivers eliminated after Q2 are: Ricciardo, Russell, Albon, Ocon, and Latifi.

Q3: Ultimately, the rain won’t play spoilsport: Hamilton is unbeatable!

The sky remains threatening in Hungary as teams are jostling to make another attempt at the stopwatch in these final minutes of qualifying. Lance Stroll, the first to set off, completes a lap in 1:14.671 ahead of Vettel, but Hamilton remains untouchable with 1:13.613, even Bottas is stuck three-tenths behind his British teammate. Ultimately, Pierre Gasly will not drive in Q3 in order to preserve his engine. Despite an underwhelming lap, the FIA cancels Sergio Pérez’s time as he placed all four wheels off the track. Before the last lap, the standings are as follows: Hamilton, Bottas, Stroll, Verstappen, Norris, Sainz, Vettel, Leclerc. Followed by Perez and Gasly without a time.

Surprisingly, Sebastian Vettel heads out alone with 6 minutes remaining, just like Charles Leclerc and the two Racing Point cars. They anticipated a few drops of rain and are giving it their all to gain a few tenths. The German and the Monegasque improve and move back up to fifth and sixth respectively, even though they are more than a second behind Hamilton. Sergio Pérez managed to get ahead of the Ferraris but ends up in fourth place behind his Canadian teammate.

The rest of the pack sets off afterward, but the track gets damp. The only one who could challenge the Briton is his Finnish teammate. However, Bottas, despite improving, fails with a time of 1:13.504 as Hamilton breaks the track record for the third time with 1:13.447. He thus secures his 90th pole position. Verstappen will start seventh in front of Sainz and Norris, followed by Pierre Gasly.

Summary table of qualifying times: