Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying: Hamilton in master
Lewis Hamilton wins the qualifying battle this Saturday. In good shape after his victory in his English home, he takes a significant advantage for the race. He is ahead of Bottas and Verstappen. The Red Bulls are plagued by doubt, to the point of opting for a defensive strategy right in the middle of Q2.

Lewis Hamilton managed to bounce back after only two poles since the start of the season. The Mercedes team is in good form for this Hungarian weekend and dominates the qualifying session.
With a track temperature of 58°, tire management is the key to this qualifying session, and will be even more crucial tomorrow during the race.
A Q1 without rhythm and without surprise
No one rushes onto the track. The Q1 session is relatively long. Drivers must first of all manage the high track temperatures.
Yuki Tsunoda is the one who starts the hostilities. He is quickly overtaken by the Alfa of Räikkönen and Giovinazzi before the Mercedes show up, followed by the Red Bulls.
Each set-up turn is carried out very carefully in order to start the timed turn without overheating the tires.
Quickly Max Verstappen secures himself as the first driver of the weekend to drop below 1m17s per lap. Ahead of Hamilton and then Bottas. The tone is set.
The Finn is embarrassed at the start of his turn initiated by Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri. He remains in the race for a hypothetical first place.
It is Sergio Perez who is behind this very fast trio.
For the Q2 passage, Vettel, Räikkönen, and Giovinazzi are the drivers at risk. Tsunoda, Russell, and Latifi are the challengers.
Some drivers like Ocon, Perez, Alonso, Leclerc, Verstappen do not do a second lap, considering the first attempt sufficient.
Finally, the positions change very little. Therefore Tsunoda, Russell, Latifi, Mazepin, and Schumacher are the ones eliminated in this Q1.
Mick Schumacher stayed in his helmet throughout the session but was unable to complete a flying lap, as his car was not repaired in time following his crash this morning in FP3.
Sainz causes a red flag in Q2
Mercedes and Red Bull are not letting go of each other. The four drivers are starting this Q2 together. The stakes are high because they need to secure a good time to make it to Q2, but also to maintain a good level of tire wear for the race. The tires setting the best time in Q2 will start the race.
After an initial attempt, Hamilton is very fast and takes the provisional lead. Verstappen slots in between the two black cars. Perez regains momentum by being in 4th place. They are all on medium tires.
The rest of the pack attack the stopwatch on soft tires. In this game, Charles Leclerc stands out by taking second place. Just as his teammate goes off track in the last turn.
The Spaniard, who was 2 tenths faster than the Monegasque since the beginning of the weekend, causes a red flag in the middle of Q2.
The impact was not serious for the driver. His single-seater also appears intact, but it will still require a thorough check by Ferrari. He will start 15th as he didn’t set a time for Q2.
In the second start of Q2, everyone sets off on red tires except Bottas. Hamilton covers himself in case the track has improved significantly. He didn’t need to go all the way. So it’s their time on yellow rubber that is considered.
On the other hand, Perez is in a more risky situation and needs to improve.
The surprise comes from Max Verstappen: the championship leader changes strategy by improving his previous time on red tires. Thus, the two Red Bulls will start the race on soft tires and the Mercedes on medium tires.
Do they doubt being able to obtain the pole and thus optimize their chances of taking the lead at the start?
Do they play it safe at the start to be sure to better get out of the starting grid?
In any case, once the race starts, the challenge will be significant. The soft tires wear out particularly quickly in the Hungarian heat.
The eliminated drivers are Ricciardo, Stroll, Räikkönen, Giovinazzi, and Sainz in that order.
Pierre Gasly surprises by achieving the 3rd fastest time, and Alonso confirms with the 5th place.
A dominant and competitive Mercedes team!
There is no more margin for these last 10 minutes of qualifying in Q3. Everyone must extract the maximum from their single-seater and their tires. The battle is relentless and Mercedes seems to be faster. Hamilton is also well ahead of his teammate: 3 tenths. Verstappen in 3rd complains about the grip of his set of tires. Perez is one second behind.
Vettel only completes one lap between the two runs of the other drivers, he qualifies in 10th place.
For the second attempt in Q3, the Mercedes with Hamilton are competing with the Red Bulls. Their warm-up lap is very slow, the Englishman just passes under the checkered flag to start his timed lap. Verstappen is about a second behind, but Perez misses the chance for a second lap. This will only further anger the Austrian team.
Finally, Verstappen slightly improves but remains in third place. He clearly did not appreciate the move by the Mercedes team. Q3 ends in a tense atmosphere. Neither Hamilton nor Bottas express their joy at achieving this one-two finish.
The surprise of these qualifications comes from Pierre Gasly. He finishes 5th and once again shows himself to be very performant at the wheel of a less developed single-seater.
The two Alpines are also in good shape, 8th and 9th places are good positions for the race. The positive point is that Esteban Ocon managed to find the pace of his teammate champion. He even finishes one place ahead of him.
A race under very very high tension
All drivers know that it is very complicated to overtake on this Hungarian merry-go-round. The start will therefore be of paramount importance, and is likely to spark some controversy!
Here is the final result table of the qualifications:
N° | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:16.424 | 1:16.553 | 1:15.419 | 18 |
2 | Bottas | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:16.569 | 1:16.702 | 1:15.734 | 18 |
3 | Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 1:16.214 | 1:15.650 | 1:15.840 | 17 |
4 | Perez | Red Bull Racing | 1:17.233 | 1:16.443 | 1:16.421 | 16 |
5 | Gasly | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:16.874 | 1:16.394 | 1:16.483 | 15 |
6 | Norris | McLaren F1 Team | 1:17.081 | 1:16.385 | 1:16.489 | 17 |
7 | Leclerc | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:17.084 | 1:16.574 | 1:16.496 | 17 |
8 | Ocon | Alpine F1 Team | 1:17.367 | 1:16.766 | 1:16.653 | 15 |
9 | Alonso | Alpine F1 Team | 1:17.123 | 1:16.541 | 1:16.715 | 15 |
10 | Vettel | Cognizant Aston Martin Racing | 1:17.105 | 1:16.794 | 1:16.750 | 15 |
11 | Ricciardo | McLaren F1 Team | 1:17.664 | 1:16.871 | 13 | |
12 | Stroll | Cognizant Aston Martin Racing | 1:17.038 | 1:16.893 | 12 | |
13 | Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN | 1:17.553 | 1:17.564 | 15 | |
14 | Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN | 1:17.776 | 1:17.583 | 12 | |
15 | Sainz Jr. | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:16.649 | 5 | ||
16 | Tsunoda | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:17.919 | 8 | ||
17 | Russell | Williams Racing | 1:17.944 | 8 | ||
18 | Latifi | Williams Racing | 1:18.036 | 8 | ||
19 | Mazepin | Haas F1 Team | 1:18.922 | 9 | ||
20 | Schumacher | Haas F1 Team | 0 |