Lando Norris took pole position at the Hungary Grand Prix and McLaren sealed the front-row lock in a chaotic session.
Norris kept his target, as the pre-match rain and qualifying created a dramatic spectacle at the Hungaroring, narrowly beating teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take pole.
The Briton had set the best time before Yuki Tsunoda’s fall caused two red flags with two minutes and thirteen seconds left in Q3, after which more rain fell to save the leaders from their used tires.
Moments before Tsunoda’s accident, as the drivers completed what was intended to be their moment and final flying lap of Q3, Piastri had been just 0. 022 moments slower than Norris, with Verstappen just a few hundredths further in third. Norris was unable to complete his second effort. due to the incident.
Carlos Sainz finished fourth and Charles Leclerc sixth, with Lewis Hamilton sharing fifth for the Ferraris after Mercedes teammate George Russell did a marvel in Q1 due to the team not supplying him with enough fuel.
Sergio Pérez also retired in Q1 after causing the first red flag of the consultation with a big fall, which will only generate hypotheses that he could be released through Red Bull a few months after signing a contract extension .
Norris, with Piastri in second, created a great opportunity to extend Verstappen’s 84-point lead over him at the top of the world championship.
McLaren is also in a position to close a seven-point deficit to second-placed Ferrari in the constructors’ standings and close a 78-point gap to leaders Red Bull.
Norris said: “[I’m] very, very happy. It’s not a simple classification, other situations like that, but still finishing first is the component of everything. Especially for the team, a brace is even better, so congratulations to the team. .
“We are already confident, so it’s not that we want much more or if we are in favor. We come into this weekend after the last few moments of satisfaction and self-confidence, we can do a smart task and we have a smart strategy. “car to fight for pole, and that’s what we did today.
“We are in the most productive position whatever the conditions. We have two cars on the front row, we can get them out of there, so as long as we stay where we are, we’ll be happy. “
Fernando Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll finished seventh and eighth respectively, thanks to an improved performance from Aston Martin.
Daniel Ricciardo edged out RB team-mate Tsunoda to ninth, with the Australian moving up a position after being the only driver of his time in the final generation of Q3 after the red flag.
Norris arrived in Hungary facing questions about his and McLaren’s failure to seal a victory that had been in his hands at Silverstone two weeks earlier, and after dominating the moment and third practice, he returned to the position of favourite heading into qualifying.
However, the merit he seemed to have over his dry rivals became irrelevant when the consultation started after an hour of light rain and with lighter rains expected.
The track temperature of 30 degrees Celsius is only part of what it was at the start of the first free practice in sweltering conditions on Friday.
After nearly fighting his way through a frantic Q1, Norris came out with the best performance as the track dried and he approached the situations in which he looked so strong.
At the start of Q3, it was clear that his only real rivals for pole were Piastri and Verstappen, but it looked like the party might come down to a single lap as engineers warned drivers about rain.
It was Norris who controlled the opening lap, completing 3 tenths ahead of Verstappen, with Piastri at roughly the same distance in third.
However, the rain was not as intense as expected and the first purple sectors gave the impression that the competitors returned to the track almost without delay with new tires.
Piastri edged out Verstappen in the final entry by a fraction of Norris, before the Dutchman closed in on the McLarens, slamming his steering wheel in frustration after completing his lap and then opting to return to the track at the end of the session. , rightly assuming that he may have improved.
Norris only started his lap when Tsunoda crashed, but that magical first effort proved enough to seal his third career pole position, which comes just three races after ending a nearly three-year wait for his second.
The front-row lock, McLaren’s first since the 2012 Brazil Grand Prix, where Hamilton and Jenson Button were first and second, is evidence that they have been the fastest team in the sport lately.
This result is all the more significant as it comes on a weekend in which Red Bull, whose early-season dominance has come to an abrupt end over the past two months, brought a huge package of improvements that they hoped would fix some sort of merit over its competitors. rivals.
While the RB20 may still have smart race pace, McLaren is in an incredibly strong position to pull off a win at a circuit where overtaking is very difficult.
“I tried. All weekend we were a little bit behind and the same thing happened in qualifying,” Verstappen said. “I tried to get as close as possible, but unfortunately not close enough. It’s a bit complicated to understand why, I would have done it. “I liked a little bit more grip, but there isn’t at the moment. “
Perez also faced questions over the weekend, the surprising form of which saw him suffer just 15 problems in the final six rounds.
Despite securing a two-year contract extension in early June, speculation is growing that Red Bull could upgrade him over the summer break, with reserve driver Liam Lawson reportedly a contender.
There was plenty of positivity from Perez and Red Bull boss Christian Horner after decent practice on Friday, but that clever paint was nullified when he lost out at Turn 8 in the tricky situations of Q1 and ended up in the barriers.
“I’m clearly disappointed because it’s been a very strong end to the week so far,” Perez said. “It hurts me to let the whole team down, but at the end of the day, I’m more determined than ever. ” get back to where we belong as a team. ”
The incident interrupted the consultation with just under seven minutes remaining, and rain intensified the 11-minute pit stop.
However, once the cars returned to the track, a dry line temporarily developed, leaving drivers like Russell, who was 14th at the time of the pit stop, vulnerable to an early exit.
The Briton, who has been in excellent form in qualifying this season, dominating teammate Hamilton and taking two pole positions, could only slightly get to tenth position as the track improved.
Then, as others were going faster, he ordered to pit because Mercedes had not provided him with enough fuel for another fast lap, dropping him to 17th place while Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Ricciardo improved, the latter going faster. All in Q1 to show the prospects of the track at this stage.
Hamilton almost followed Russell in Q2 but survived a hundredth of a second as Mercedes fell back after being strong in the colder situations earlier in the session.
The seven-time world champion, buoyed by a 56-race winless streak last time out at Silverstone, eventually regained fifth place, but Mercedes clearly still had work to do to be a permanent outpost finisher after successive wins. .
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1: “It’s a completely poor performance from everyone involved here.
“Losing a car in Q1 is just not an option. . . A driver-team combination, that shouldn’t happen. And in the end, we just didn’t have the pace. A very, very disappointing day. “
Sunday July 21:20: Featured Race F39:00: Featured Race F211:00: Porsche Supercup 12:30: Grand Prix Sunday – Preparation for the Hungary GP 14:00: HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX 16:00: Chequered flag: from the Hungary GP 17:00: Ted’s notebook
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