Hamilton shocks Verstappen to clinch Hungary pole

Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, which was in a different format as the drivers were obliged to use the hard tires in Q1, the mediums in Q2 and the fastest, softs, in the battle for top 10.

The first part of the session saw a lot of actions as most of the drivers were constantly on the track improving their lap times on the hardest compound. The big surprise in the first 20 minutes was George Russell who had to cope with heavy traffic in his final attempt and finished 18th.

In the middle of Q2 Verstappen set the fastest time, but because of track limits his lap was deleted and had to go for a second run to get his Q3 place. Things didn’t go as planned for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who finished 11th just 0.002 seconds behind Fernando Alonso.

Q3 was far from perfect for both Red Bulls as Verstappen made a good first lap, but in his final attempt had some problems. Lewis Hamilton, though, made a stunning lap and got the pole by a gap of 0.003 seconds.

BREAKING 🚨

More on this topic:

Russell thinks Hamilton would’ve stayed at Mercedes with current form

Max Verstappen is… NOT ON POLE! 😳

For the first time since December 2021, Lewis Hamilton is on pole position for an #F1 race. He’ll start just ahead of Verstappen on the #HungarianGP grid on Sunday 👏 https://t.co/ijKS5j5oS0 pic.twitter.com/GbrUBWIFF5

— Mirror F1 (@MirrorF1) July 22, 2023

Third on Sunday will be Mclaren’s Lando Norris in front of his team-mate Oscar Piastri.