Hungary Qualifying Reaction
Image: Formula One Media
A new experimental qualifying session in Hungary leaves us with a familiar name on pole but how did the rest of the grid fare in this strange Saturday event?
A part of Formula One’s mission to make the races much more entertaining to watch was to shake up the way the drivers qualify for their grid positions. Whilst ideas like reverse grids and times knockouts have been explored, many fans believe that the traditional qualifying format should remain untouched.
However, just a matter of days before the cancelled Imola Grand Prix, Formula One announced that it would trial a new format of qualifying at a handful of races throughout the season. The rules for the new format were that the drivers would use hard-compound tyres for Q1, medium-compound tyres for Q2, and soft for Q3.
The intention behind this new format is to spice up the grid for the race as some drivers might not get a great lap time from the hardest and slowest compound and get knocked out in Q1, something we saw today. Here’s how the very first qualifying session using the new format played out.
Q1
With all the drivers restricted to using only hard-compound tyres, the only thing separating them from the elimination zone was pure speed. The track surface was also warmer than usual, maintaining a temperature of 45 degrees Celcius. Other storylines included whether Daniel Ricciardo could beat his teammate on his Formula One return and if Sergio Perez could get his mojo back, seeking to end a dismal run of Q1 and Q2 exits.
The start of the session was pretty bog standard. Although, the Alfa Romeo cars seemed especially quick, with both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu setting solid laptimes, with Zhou setting the fastest time in Q1. Verstappen and both McLarens also had pace, setting similar lap times to the Mercedes cars, who had been looking competitive in all three practice sessions.
A team that wasn’t relaxing was Ferrari, who had Charles Leclerc stuck in P15 with just six minutes remaining. "Let's stay calm, but come on," the Monegasque told his team. A late effort saw Leclerc safely through with little difficulty.
Arguably the most shocking moment of the entire session was that Mercedes were at risk of losing both its drivers with just a minute to go. George Russell found himself on the fringes of elimination in P14 and Hamilton was down in P17. Battling through traffic, the Mercedes pair seemed to just make it, with Hamilton through. However, Russell failed to set a decent laptime and was eliminated in Q1, starting the race from P18, the Brit’s worst grid position at the Hungaroring.
“Guys. Was there any point? We were in all that traffic in Sector 3.”
Whether Russell can fight back and claim points remains to be seen, with the strong pace of the midfield.
The drivers knocked out of Q1 were:
P16 - Alexander Albon
P17 - Yuki Tsunoda
P18 - George Russell
P19 - Kevin Magnussen
P20 - Logan Sargeant
Q2
Restricted to medium-compound tyres, it was expected that we’d see a noticeable difference in pace between the teams but to be honest, the grid was quite closely matched.
Sergio Perez set a much-needed fastest lap, sending the Mexican to the top of the leaderboard. With ten minutes remaining Verstappen bests his teammate and Norris, who stunned the crowd in Silverstone, moved up to P2, 30 milliseconds behind Verstappen.
The McLaren driver then sets the fastest lap and maintained P1 for the rest of the session, another superb performance by Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri also seemed to match his teammate’s laptimes and also put in a great result for McLaren.
Many drivers had their laptimes deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 8, including Max Verstappen and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Eventually moving up to fifth, Hamilton demonstrated an abundance of pace, something which we’re sure George Russell was kicking himself about.
In his first F1 race for eight months, Daniel Ricciardo did really well, giving Alpha Tauri its first Q2 appearance in four races. Eventually, the Honey Bagdger came home in P113, beating the Alpine of Gasly and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
It was also a horrible outing for Carlos Sainz, who missed out on the top-ten shootout by just 0.002 seconds, the Spaniard was affected by traffic and suffered the same fate as George Russell, starting the race out of position.
The drivers eliminated from Q2 were:
P11 - Carlos Sainz
P12 - Esteban Ocon
P13 - Daniel Ricciardo
P14 - Lance Stroll
P15 - Pierre Gasly
Q3
Now here’s a sight we’re used to - F1 cars in Q3 on soft-compound tyres. Despite the drivers now exclusively using the quickest and grippiest tyre available, the teams had to be careful as the soft degraded much quicker, giving the drivers only a few laps to set a great laptime.
The first leaderboard after the first runs in Q3 saw Verstappen topping the timing sheets with his old rival Lewis Hamilton just behind him in P2. Fernando Alonso also seemed to be within the mix, sitting pretty in P4, ahead of Perez and Leclerc.
As the end of the session drew closer, it looked like either Hamilton or Verstappen were going to get pole. Verstappen failed to improve on his earlier laptime, leaving him at risk of losing pole position. Lando Norris set a very quick lap but missed out by 0.082 seconds, a great effort from the 23-year-old regardless. It seemed to certain that Verstappen had got pole but Hamilton was making small dents in the Red Bull driver’s time.
Hamilton crossed the line to take his 104th career pole by just 0.003 seconds, the second-closest pole margin in the history of Formula One.
It was also an amazing qualifying session yet again for McLaren who line up P3 and P4 on the grid, an absolutely sublime effort from the Woking locals.
Another star performance came from Zhou Guanyu today, who lines up P5 on the grid for Sunday’s race. This result gave Alfa Romeo Sauber its highest start since 2012, with Zhou also achieving his best F1 qualifying result to date.
A great result for Hamilton, who last took pole position at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which also remains the last race the Brit won, too. Whether the Mercedes driver can hold off the mighty pace of Verstappen will depend on many factors including strategy and the race start, as track position comes at a premium at Hungary.
Stay tuned on our website and our Twitter and Instagram for our coverage of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
