22 July 2023 , 15:50
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Lewis Hamilton paid tribute to his Hungarian Grand Prix rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris as he seemed to fight his emotions after beating them both to pole position.
Verstappen was hunting a sixth-straight pole position to continue his lethal form. But Budapest is Hamilton territory – the Mercedes star had eight poles and eight more race wins at the Hungaroring prior to this weekend.
The seven-time world champion added another one to his record by beating the Red Bull racer by three-thousandths of a second. And he will be hoping to convert that into a ninth victory here, which would be his first in Formula 1 since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Hamilton's voice was wavering as he reacted to an emotional pole position. "I just have to see if I can try to sleep tonight," he said with a small laugh. "Tomorrow, we'll study as hard as we can and bring our A-game as a team."
And he made sure to speak about Verstappen and Norris, who he knows will give him a tough battle on Sunday. Hamilton said: "It's going to be difficult to fight these two guys. Lando has been doing a mega job – it's been great to see McLaren up there battling. And Max, you know Max, he's always up there doing his thing."
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Hamilton admitted he was losing his voice having celebrated so loudly in the car prior to fulfilling his media duties. The buzzing Brit declared: "I've lost my voice from shouting so much in the car. It's amazing, the feeling. I feel so grateful to be up here because the team have worked so hard. "We've been pushing so hard over this time to finally get a pole.
"And a big thanks to the crowd, we always have an amazing crowd here in Budapest. Wow. I really didn't expect, coming into today, that we would be fighting for pole. So when it went into that last run I gave it absolutely everything. There was nothing left in it.
"It's been massively challenging for every single person in the team and there have been ups and downs. It's a big rollercoaster ride, but none of us have lost faith. We've all pulled together, united, to focus on trying to steer the car in the right direction.
"Today, we were losing time in turns four and 11 compared to the others, so I just sent it and hoped I stayed on track. It's been tough, and it's going to continue to be tough from here, but this shows that we're on the right track and that we can keep pushing."
Team boss Toto Wolff will be delighted with Hamilton's result, but less pleased with what George Russell managed to achieve. He was caught up in traffic in Q1 and qualified only 18th on the grid, after which the Mercedes chief banged his fist on the table in frustration in the garage.