It's been far from a conventional weekend at the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. First there was the unusual Friday with Free Practice 1 an effective washout and teams trying to save tyres in the afternoon session, meaning the usual true Free Practice 2 picture did not emerge. Heading into Qualifying, it was still fuzzy, with big names George Russell and Carlos Sainz failing to make Q3 as new tyre rules came into force mandating Hards in Q1, Mediums in Q2 and Softs in Q3. It all ended with Lewis Hamilton taking a first pole position since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, 33 races ago, 0.003s ahead of Max Verstappen who was 'only' second. But we start with the record-breaking Hamilton.
Winner - Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton was rather downbeat after Friday practice and was not a fan of the reduction in tyre sets from 13 to 11. But he pulled a pleasant surprise in Free Practice 3, topping the session and just planting the seed of 'What If?' during an unusually messy day for Verstappen. He was closest after the first runs in Q3, 0.126s down on the Dutchman, and found 0.129s on his second effort to snatch pole #104 by 0.003s as Verstappen failed to improve. Hamilton has been a quiet star of the season so far, and now has a just reward for his efforts by ending the long pole drought. It's is ninth in Hungary, eclipsing the previous record of most poles by a single driver at one race, one he held with Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. He's got a sniff of victory. Somehow finish ahead of Verstappen, and victory will surely be his after the pain of the ground effects era thus far. What did Hamilton say? "It has been a crazy year and a half, I've lost my voice from shouting so much in the car. It is amazing, that feeling. "I feel so grateful to be up here. The team have worked so hard, we have been pushing so hard over this time, so to finally get the first pole, it feels like the first time."
Loser - George Russell
And on the flip side, we have Russell. It's hard to make sense of Russell's season up to this point. There have been flashes of pace, and he out-qualified Hamilton in the early races. It's just not quite clicking at the moment. Russell is just not getting the breaks. Both Mercedes went out late in Q1, but Russell copped more of the traffic back-up at Turn 13 and his final lap was basically over before it even started, leaving him 18th. He mentioned the gentleman's agreement drivers have not to overtake, and admitted he would have done the same if he was in their position. Russell just needs a fortunate break - it will come soon enough, but on a day you are 18th and your teammate on pole on the dry, it's hard not to be a loser. What did Russell say? "You've got to fight for yourself, it is a big four-and-a-half kilometre long track, and we're in the space of 1km with 10 cars, so we just need to look in the mirror and recognise we made a big f**k up."
Winner - McLaren
McLaren are back in the game. If the Hungarian Grand Prix has taught us anything - the MCL60 is now a potent weapon and Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be making nuisances of themselves. The tight twisty circuit is about as different the high-speed blast of Silverstone as is possible, with low-speed corners a weakness, with Norris downplaying expectations coming into the weekend. Third and fourth on the grid is a stunning result for a team finally showing signs of awakening in 2023. But Norris was left disappointed with third. Given from where McLaren were at the start of the year, that is remarkable progress. What did Norris say? "I am disappointed. If you are within a tenth of pole, it feels like you should be on pole if you put the lap together. "As an overall picture, I am happy, the team did a good job - a good weekend so far. But as a driver, I am not the happiest. I feel like I made too many mistakes and that cost me."
Loser - Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz was completely comfortable on the Hard Pirellis, but a "weird" problem struck whenever he put the Mediums on. Essentially, he found the Hards would fire up quicker than the Mediums. In the end, he was dumped out in Q2 by teammate Charles Leclerc at the death, and will start 11th. Leclerc took sixth on a below par day overall for Ferrari, but in failing to make Q3, Sainz must be the loser. What did Sainz say? "I've been feeling weird with the Medium compound all weekend, every time I was running it. "For some reason, we were always struggling a lot in Sector 1 in getting them to work and it was even harder than the Hard tyre."
Winner - Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo has been rather anonymous throughout 2023, but they have starred throughout the Budapest weekend. Zhou Guanyu took a career-best fifth on the grid, with Valtteri Bottas seventh. A pretty equal result on the face of it, but the Chinese racer has been quietly doing a job on Bottas this year and this standout result should give him confidence to bank a big points haul tomorrow. He was only three-tenths off Hamilton's pole time as well having topped Q1 on the Hard tyres on a track that was expected to suit the C43, but probably not to this extent. What did Zhou say? I felt comfortable from the first lap onwards, but still, I did not really expect to even finish Q1 in P1. My first run was quite rough, but then we subsequently managed to execute at the top of our performances up to the end of Q3.
Loser - Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda's objective for the rest of 2023 is clear: beat Daniel Ricciardo and beat him well. Throughout practice, he looked to have Ricciardo's number, but when it came to it in Qualifying, Tsunoda fell in Q1 while Ricciardo scrapped a Q2 berth. Small margins maybe, but in the battle Tsunoda is facing to prove he can beat Ricciardo it is an inauspicious start. He gets another chance to defeat Ricciardo tomorrow - and must do so. Reputations and verdicts are made very quickly in F1. What did Tsunoda say? "Being knocked out of Q1 isn’t great; it’s tough and I’m disappointed. I couldn’t improve and missed out on Q2, not finishing in the position I wanted to, and it’s a shame. I just couldn’t put it together and maximise my performance. "
Most read
