Mogyoród (Hungary): The qualifying session at the Hungaroring race track was one full of blistering pace, red flags, and surprises with McLaren duo, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finishing first and second respectively with Max Verstappen set to start from third.
McLaren has certainly bridged the gap between them and Red Bull but it will be very important for them to capitalise on it as they could still aim to challenge Red Bull for the constructors’ championship.
This was Norris’ third career pole and his second in the past four races. The McLaren driver was adamant that finishing first in qualifying may be nice but it will be for nothing if he can not convert it into a second career win tomorrow.
“We have already got confidence, so it’s not like we need a lot more of it or we are searching for it. We have come into this weekend off the back of the last few happy and confident we can do a good job and we have a good car to fight for pole, which is what we did today. We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us. Two cars at the front row, we can control it from there, so as long as we stay where we are we’ll be happy,” said Norris in the post-qualifying interview.
All eyes were on Sergio Perez’s Red Bull with the Mexican heavily struggling through the course of the ongoing season. His struggles and dreaded run in qualifying sessions continued as he spun out at the exit of Turn 8, causing significant damage to the rear end of the car resulting in a P16 finish for Perez and a heavily damaged car for mechanics to try and sort ahead of Sunday’s race.
This was his fourth exit in Q1 in the last six races and the next two races may be the last time we see Perez in the Red Bull seat. With the Summer break set to begin after the Belgian Grand Prix next Sunday, it is expected that the World Champions will have to make some tough decisions in the month-long gap.
Alongside Perez, the Mercedes of George Russell failed to qualify for Q2 as well with a mixup to be blamed for him missing out. Russell did not expect to need to give another flying lap and went inside the pit earlier than needed which saw him being edged out in the standings.
Q3 almost saw Max Verstappen take the pole position for himself but Yuki Tsunoda’s crash with just over two minutes saw the race being red flagged and even though the session did resume, there were no major changes in the qualifying lineup.
Brief Results:
Top 10
1. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1:15.227
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
7. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
8. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
9. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
10. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
