Hungary - Qualifying

A week after Kimi Antonelli's Belgian win, Formula One travelled to the Hungaroring for yet another race of the European season. From the start of the weekend, it was clear that there were surprises in store for racing fans. The first came in the form of the man who managed to get the coveted pole position. 

As the cars set out on track for the first time during qualifying, not all of them were sporting the red soft tires most commonly used to set the quick laps. The two Ferraris went out on mediums and did not change them to the expected compound for the entirety of Q1. Their session was far from perfect, with Charles Leclerc seeing his first flying lap deleted due to exceeding the track limits, but the teammates moved through to Q2 without any trouble, saving a set of soft tires each in the process. Lando Norris was the fastest driver during the first 18 minutes, closely followed by Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli. Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez made up the bottom six. There was, however, one name that was missing from the elimination zone. Fernando Alonso managed to turn Aston Martin's weekend around when he set a lap that was good enough to secure a spot in Q2. 

Encouraged by the Q1 success, Alonso was the first driver to appear on track. The other drivers followed his lead soon after. Not all 16 managed to set early times. Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar found themselves at the very bottom of the standings, with the latter disrupting the session when he spun and brought out a yellow flag, which impacted the session of a few of his contenders, including Ferrari's Leclerc. The Monegasque was forced to slow down and thus tumbled down the order, falling into the elimination zone with only a few minutes left in the session. Thankfully for all Tifosi, his second run was good enough to launch him into P2. He wasn't the only top driver to find himself in the bottom six. Antonelli also visited the disliked position in the standings as he had his time deleted for exceeding track limits at turn seven. Although he managed to escape elimination, the same could not be said about Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, and the impressive Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton took the provisional pole and went into the second series of runs with a decided advantage. When the cars appeared on track after a short break, neither the two Ferraris nor Verstappen managed to improve their times. To make matters worse, the Dutchman spun at the end of his lap, bringing out a yellow flag that forced the drivers behind him to slow down as they approached the finish line. Antonelli could not improve, and neither could Russell, who found himself stationary at the beginning of the track. It was therefore all in Norris' hands to deny Hamilton the pole. He managed to do so, albeit by a very small margin. 

Order of the grid:

1. Lando Norris

2. Lewis Hamilton

3. Charles Leclerc

4. Kimi Antonelli

5. Oscar Piastri

6. Max Verstappen

7. George Russell

8. Isack Hadjar

9. Arvid Lindblad

10. Nico Hulkenberg

11. Liam Lawson

12. Pierre Gasly

13. Franco Colapinto

14. Gabriel Bortoleto

15. Esteban Ocon

16. Fernando Alonso

17. Oliver Bearman

18. Carlos Sainz

19. Alex Albon

20. Lance Stroll

21. Valtteri Bottas

22. Serio Perez