Lando Norris takes Hungarian pole; McLaren lockout front row: F1
Lando Norris beat team-mate Oscar Piastri by just two hundredths of a second to take pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix, as the pair handed McLaren its first front-row lockout in 12 years. F1 Drivers’ Championship leader Max Verstappen was third, another two hundredths of a second further behind.
Despite light rain falling in the hour before Qualifying, the start of Q1 was judged dry enough for slick tyres and when the lights went green all 20 cars streamed out on track ahead of an expected further shower. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton made the most of the tricky conditions with the Silverstone winner taking an early lead with a lap of 1:17.087. Carlos Sainz then moved to second for Ferrari and after taking P6 with his opening flyer, Verstappen jumped to third place with a lap of 1:17.287.
The Dutchman’s team-mate Sergio Pérez was not finding similar improvements, however. Sebeth after his first run, the Mexican failed to improve on a second attempt. He stuck with the same set of tyres for a third run but midway through his flying lap he took too much of the damp kerb on the right-hand side as he went into Turn 8 and he spun off into the barriers. The red flags came out and the session was halted as his car was recovered.
After an 11-minute delay and with six minutes left on the clock, the session resumed. With more rain having fallen during the halt, and with DRS disabled, it looked like improvements would be hard to come by. However, as the final minutes unfolded the track rapidly dried and the final flyer became all important.
Verstappen was one of the first to profit and the Red Bull driver’s final lap of 1:17.087 initially moved him up to second behind Hamilton. It was RB’s Daniel Ricciardo who made the biggest leap, though, and the Australian put in an impressive lap of 1:17.050 to jump from 16th to top spot at the end of the session.
Others, though, were headed the other way. Pérez, already out, dropped to 16th as improvement arrived elsewhere but it was George Russell who became the biggest casualty of the session. The Briton was unable to find the same kind of pace as team-mate Hamilton and he slumped to 17th at the end of the session, exiting ahead of Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
Verstappen was first on track at the start and new Softs the Dutchman laid down a marker with a time of 1:15.770, eight tenths clear of Hamilton who was on used tyres. Piastri then took second just 0.005s behind Verstappen as Sainz slotted into third with a second flyer ahead Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Norris.
In the final runs it was Norris who set the pace. The McLaren driver went quickest in the final two sectors to steal P1 with a lap of 1:16.540, with Verstappen progressing in P2 ahead of Piastri and Sainz.
Hamilton narrowly avoided the exit door at the end of Q2. With both RBs through to Q3, with Tsunoda in eighth ahead of Ricciardo, seven-time champion Hamilton just scraped into Q3 in 10th place one hundredth of a second ahead of Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg, who went out in P11 ahead of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, and the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
With rain expected midway through the final session, the 10 remaining drivers took to the track on new Softs at the start of Q3. Verstappen was first across the line and it looked like the Red Bull driver was determined to take a ninth pole of the season as he stopped the clock in 1:15.555 to take provisional pole. Norris was finding more time, however, and the McLaren driver moved ahead of the Red Bull driver with a lap of 1:15.227.
Verstappen was now under pressure and after making swift adjustments to his front wing to cure the understeer he’d experienced on his opening flyer, the Dutchman headed out for a final charge.
Over the first two sectors it looked like the Dutchman might make it but after going quicker than Norris across the first two sectors his tyres faded in the final section and though he improved, his 1:15.273 only proved good enough for third as Piastri went 0.024s quicker. Norris therefore took his third career pole and his second of 2024 as McLaren recorded its first front-row lockout since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Behind them all, Tsunoda ran wide at the exit of Turn 5 and the Japanese driver was hurled into the barriers. The red flags immediately came out, Norris was denied a second lap out and the session was stopped for a second time, with just over two minutes on the clock.
After a 13-minute delay the session resumed, but with only used tyres available, any improvements were unlikely. Verstappen and Alonso chose to settle and climbed out of their cars. Norris and Piastri took their place at the head of the queue to defend their positions but in the end the only diver to find a meaningful improvement on his final lap was Ricciardo who leapfrogged Tsunoda to take P9.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:15.227 – –
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:15.249 0.022
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:15.273 0.046
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:15.696 0.469
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.854 0.627
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.905 0.678
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.043 0.816
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.244 1.017
9 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:16.447 1.220
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:16.477 1.250
11 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:16.317 1.090
12 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:16.384 1.157
13 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:16.429 1.202
14 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:16.543 1.316
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:16.548 1.321
16 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.886 2.659
17 George Russell Mercedes 1:17.968 2.741
18 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.037 2.810
19 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:18.049 2.822
20 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:18.166 2.939
