Lewis Hamilton upsets F1 nemesis Max Verstappen to take Hungarian GP pole

22 July 2023 , 15:02

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Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole for the first time since December 2021 (Image: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton usurped Max Verstappen to take pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix, beating his rival by just three-thousandths of a second.

The Brit struggled for pace in Friday practice but was very much back on it on Saturday. He was a bona fide threat to Verstappen, who was hunting six pole positions in a row, on a Hungaroring track where Hamilton has enjoyed so much success in his Formula 1 career.

And he secured a record ninth pole position in Budapest as he made the most of a Verstappen error on his final flying lap to go faster than the Red Bull and secure pole by a hair's breadth.

Changes to qualifying rules meant, unusually, all the cars hit the track in Q1 wearing white-walled hard tyres. That meant they all had extra resilient rubber to be able to attempt more hot laps than usual, on a track which was ramping up all the time, making for an intriguing watch.

The unknown factors also added extra jeopardy, especially for the bigger teams. None of them wanted to be the ones to be caught out, and it was Mercedes who would fall victim to that as George Russell could only go 18th fastest in Q1.

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Clearly, it was well below expectations for team boss Toto Wolff who banged his fist on his table in frustration. And Russell was also angry, swearing loudly before blaming the poor result on traffic that he came across on his final flying lap.

Another big name fell in Q2 as Carlos Sainz failed to reach the top 10. He was consigned to P11 on the grid, knocked out of the session by Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc who leapfrogged the Spaniard out of the danger zone.

Toto Wolff punched the table in frustration over Russell's failure – but would have been much more happy with Hamilton's result (Sky Sports)

Sainz will share the sixth row of the grid with Esteban Ocon, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who will be pleased with his first qualifying session back in F1. 13th place puts him four grid slots ahead of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who is much more familiar with the AlphaTauri car.

In the final part of the session, Verstappen went fastest of everyone after the first runs. But he could not improve on his final flying lap and Hamilton took full advantage by narrowly beating the Dutchman to pole and setting up an interesting fight in Sunday's race.

Behind the front two, it was a great day for McLaren again as Lando Norris qualified third and team-mate Oscar Piastri one place further back. And Zhou Guanyu caught the eye with a superb performance, fifth on the grid and head of both Ferraris of which his Alfa Romeo team is a customer.

Full 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying result

1. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
2. Max Verstappen – Red Bull
3. Lando Norris – McLaren
4. Oscar Piastri – McLaren
5. Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo
6. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
7. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
8. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
9. Sergio Perez – Red Bull
10. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas
11. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
12. Esteban Ocon – Alpine
13. Daniel Ricciardo – AlphaTauri
14. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
15. Pierre Gasly – Alpine
16. Alex Albon – Williams
17. Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
18. George Russell – Mercedes
19. Kevin Magnussen – Haas
20. Logan Sargeant – Williams

Daniel Moxon