Leclerc Surprises in Hungary: Unexpected Pole Position for Ferrari
In a qualifying session full of surprises, Charles Leclerc secured pole position for Ferrari at the Hungarian Grand Prix, surpassing McLaren favorites Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Leclerc set a time of 1:15.372, beating the championship leader, Piastri, by just 0.026 seconds. Norris, for his part, was 0.015 seconds behind Piastri, securing third place on the starting grid. Norris had achieved the best time in Q2 with 1:14.980, but he couldn’t replicate his performance in Q3, when the track conditions changed drastically due to increased cloud cover and wind, as well as a decrease in temperature. This pole position represents the first of the season for Ferrari in a Grand Prix, after the team introduced improvements to the suspension of its car in the Belgian Grand Prix.“Today I don’t understand anything in Formula 1,” Leclerc commented after qualifying. “Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. I knew I only had to do a clean lap to aim for third place, and in the end it’s the pole position. I definitely didn’t expect that.”
Charles Leclerc
Both Piastri and Norris attributed their results to the changes in the wind during Q3. Piastri noted that the wind “changed a lot” and that “many of the turns felt completely different”.
Norris added that Leclerc “did a good job on the last lap… probably risked a little more in these conditions”. George Russell secured fourth place for Mercedes, followed by Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, who equaled his best result of the season in qualifying. Lance Stroll, Alonso’s teammate, will start sixth, followed by Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who had another impressive qualifying. The defending champion, Max Verstappen, had to settle for eighth place after struggling with the balance of his Red Bull during practice. Racing Bulls teammates Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar completed the top ten in ninth and tenth place. Oliver Bearman, from Haas, will start eleventh after missing Q3 by 0.007 seconds. Lewis Hamilton also fell short by a small margin, starting the race in 12th place. Kimi Antonelli was also in the fight for the last spot in Q3, but his fastest lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him in 15th place. Carlos Sainz will start from 13th place for Williams, followed by Franco Colapinto, who beat his teammate at Alpine, Pierre Gasly, for the second time since joining the team. Yuki Tsunoda failed to enter Q2 by 0.021 seconds, resulting in his fourth elimination in Q1. Pierre Gasly will start 17th for Alpine, followed by Esteban Ocon of Haas, Nico Hülkenberg of Sauber, and Alex Albon of Williams in last place.
