Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton will start Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday after beating 2023’s dominant driver Max Verstappen in a thrilling qualifying session.
Hamilton had not taken a pole position since the penultimate round of the 2021 season, in Saudi Arabia, but performed strongly at a Hungaroring circuit on Saturday where he has historically thrived.
In the final qualifying shootout, Hamilton posted a time of 1 minute, 16.09 seconds to finish just 0.003 second ahead of Verstappen to end the Dutchman’s run of five consecutive pole positions.
Lewis Hamilton will try to end Red Bull’s season-long winning streak on Sunday in Hungary.
Mark Thompson//Getty Images
It marked the 104th pole position of Hamilton’s career and marked only the second non-Red Bull pole position of the 2023 season. Hamilton also set a new Formula 1 record as it was his ninth pole position at the Hungaroring—no driver had previously claimed more than eight poles at a single venue.
“I don’t think I breathed the whole lap, I was so out of breath at the end, it’s an extraordinary feeling,” said an emotional Hamilton. “I’ve been here for such a long time, I’ve had success before, but even though it’s 104 it feels like the first, it’s how special it feels.
“It’s been massively challenging for all of us, the ups and downs, a big rollercoaster ride, we’ve not lost faith, and we’ve united together to steer the car in the direction. We were losing so much time in turns 4 and turns 11 compared to the others so I just sent it and hoped I stayed on track.”
Hamilton, who has 103 career wins, has not added to his victory tally since Saudi Arabia 2021, the race before his infamous title showdown against Verstappen.
Verstappen was only 0.003 second away from extending his pole streak but labeled his RB19 as “terrible” and conceded he had been struggling through the whole weekend.
“It doesn’t matter where you are, if (the car) doesn’t feel good it doesn’t feel good,” Verstappen said. “The whole weekend we’ve been struggling with balance, understeer, oversteer, never in a good window.
“Every time I go to the apex it was just not gripping up. I tried to correct a few things in Q3, my first lap wasn’t too bad, still felt like driving on ice with the front axle, but second lap the first sector was off, I risked more in sector two which paid off, but in the last sector I lost the front.”
McLaren built on its strong Silverstone weekend by locking out the second row of the grid, with Lando Norris third, and Oscar Piastri fourth.
There were also smiles down at Alfa Romeo as Zhou Guanyu starred to claim his career best grid result with fifth place.
Sergio Perez’s disappointing run of Saturday results continued; he made it through to Q3 after a five-event absence from the final shootout but went on to set only the ninth-best time.
F1 Hungarian Grand Prix
Saturday Qualifying Results
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Zhou Gunayu (Alfa Romeo)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Valtteri Botas (Alfa Romeo)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- Logan Sargeant (Williams)
Keyword: Look Out, Max! Lewis Hamilton Snags Pole for F1 Hungarian Grand Prix