Lewis Hamilton took a shock pole position at the Hungaroring, his first since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Briton prevailed in a hugely exciting session that saw championship leader Max Verstappen finished in second place.
The second Mercedes of George Russell had a difficult outing and dropped out in Q1 – the 2022 pole-sitter around the Hungaroring will be forced to start from 18th on the grid.
McLaren once again showed its strong form with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri ending the session in third and fourth respectively.
Guanyu Zhou impressed en route to fifth, while Daniel Ricciardo was 13th for AlphaTauri in his return to F1.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:16.609 | |||
| 2 |
|
Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:16.612 | 0.003 | ||
| 3 |
|
Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:16.694 | 0.085 | ||
| 4 |
|
Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:16.905 | 0.296 | ||
| 5 |
|
Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 1:16.971 | 0.362 | ||
| 6 |
|
Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:16.992 | 0.383 | ||
| 7 |
|
Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:17.034 | 0.425 | ||
| 8 |
|
Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:17.035 | 0.426 | ||
| 9 |
|
Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1:17.045 | 0.436 | ||
| 10 |
|
Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1:17.186 | 0.577 | ||
| 11 |
|
Carlos Sainz Jr | Ferrari | ||||
| 12 |
|
Esteban Ocon | Alpine | ||||
| 13 |
|
Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | ||||
| 14 |
|
Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | ||||
| 15 |
|
Pierre Gasly | Alpine | ||||
| 16 |
|
Alex Albon | Williams | ||||
| 17 |
|
Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | ||||
| 18 |
|
George Russell | Mercedes | ||||
| 19 |
|
Kevin Magnussen | Haas | ||||
| 20 |
|
Logan Sargeant | Williams |
But of course it was all due to the successful FIA/Pirelli tyre experiment??
I assume FIA had modelled all the benefits and drawbacks of the new scheme and discussed it with all teams/drivers to demonstrate why it would be so good.
What? They just imposed it.
As the main benefit is said to be environmental, is making changes in that way in line with their ISO Management Standard?!