F1 Hungarian GP: Hamilton leads Mercedes front-row lock out, Verstappen third
The seven-time world champion was untouchable in Q3 as he set a blist✅ering pace on a 1m15.419s to ach🏅ieve a record-breaking eighth pole at the Hungaroring.
Hamilton headed a Mercedes front-row lockout with Valtter🀅i Bottas over three-tenths behind his teammate, while championship leader Max Verstappen could only manage⭕ third, 0.421s adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark.
A seemingly slow out-lap from Hamilton before 🗹the second runs began backed up the Red Bull pair and ultimately meant Sergio Perez failed to start his final flying lap in time, while Verstappen could only improve by a tenth.
Intriguingly, Mercedes and Red Bull have opted for alternative strategies for Sunday’s grand prix, with Hamilton and Bottas set to start on me🍰diums, with Verstappen and Perez favouring softs.
Behind Perez, AlphaTa꧋uri’s Pierre Gasly claimed best of the rest spot with a brilliant lap to take fifth, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Ferrari’s Char𓃲les Leclerc was seventh ahead of the Alpine duo led by Esteban 🍰Ocon, with the Frenchman narrowly pipping Fernando Alonso to P8.
Four-time world champion𓃲 Sebastian Vettel c🎃ompleted the rest of the top-10 for Aston Martin.
It was an𓆉other frustrating day for Daniel Ricciardo as he missed out on 𒈔a spot in Q3 by just 0.077s.
The McLaren driver edged out Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin for 11th, while Kimi Raikkonen outpaced Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Gio൩vinazzi by a tenth to take 13th.
Q2 was interruptedꦓ by a red flag caused by Carlos Sainz, who♈ crashed out of qualifying at the final corner.
The Spaniard lost control mid-corner before sliding into the barriers, eliminating him from the session and leaving him a disappointing🐷 15th on the grid for Sunday’s race.
AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out in Q1 in 16th, while George Russell failed ꦬto make it thr♑ough to Q2 for the first time this season.
The Briton did however conti🐽nue his 100% record of out-qualifying his Williams teammates in F1, having shaded Nicholas Latifi by a tenth.
With Haas unable to fix Mick Schumacher’s car in time to contest qualifying following his big final practice shunt, the German’s teammate Nikita Mazepin was the s♏lowest driver in qualifying as he finished 19th.
Full qualifying results for the 2021 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
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