Hungarian GP: Russell beats Sainz to take shock maiden pole at Hungaroring
George Russell took his maiden F1 pole position at the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix to keep the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc at bay, while Max Verstappen will start a provisional 10th having suffered a loss of power in Q3.
After a wet final practice session that was led by Nicholas Latifi, qualifying took place in dry conditions. Q1 was topped by Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton taking advantage of track evolution to lead team mate George Russell. Drivers continued to pick up the pace in Q2, where Verstappen led Leclerc.
In Q3, Verstappen was left in despair by a loss of power, and with the Ferraris in provisional pole he could only watch his hopes of pole fade away. Russell however caused a huge shock to the Scuderia with a lap of 1m 17.377s that kept Carlos Sainz at bay by 0.044s, and Charles Leclerc third by almost two-tenths.
Lando Norris qualified on the second row while Esteban Ocon will share row three with his Alpine team mate Fernando Alonso.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was seventh and former team mate Valtteri Bottas qualified eighth, to leave Daniel Ricciardo ninth and Verstappen an unfortunate P10.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was a shock elimination from Q2 in P11 – Perez frustrated to hit traffic on his final effort. Zhou Guanyu was pleased with his P12 performance for Alfa Romeo, while Kevin Magnussen took P13 in the upgraded Haas – though he was the driver who drew Perez’s ire.
Lance Stroll settled for 14th, and Mick Schumacher was last in Q2 as he is set to start the Hungarian GP a provisional 15th.
Yuki Tsunoda missed out on Q2 by 0.035s as he qualified 16th, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel in P18. Pierre Gasly lost out due to track limits and qualified 19th to make it a double-Q1 elimination for AlphaTauri and FP3 star Nicholas Latifi rounded out the standings thanks to a mistake at the final corner.
After a painful showing in France, Ferrari have made their first steps towards redemption – while Mercedes are back at the top. At least, for the time being.
