Lewis Hamilton has overcome searing track conditions and a somewhat hostile crowd to take pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix. In doing so the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 driver brought Max Verstappen’s run of four consecutive pole positions to an end. Valtteri Bottas joined his teammate on the front row in what was a return of sorts to the status quo we had come to expect in seasons past.

Max Verstappen drew first blood in Q1, the Red Bull Honda driver comfortably faster than Hamilton and Bottas to head the field. The Ferrari of Sainz led the midfield battle from Gasly in the Alpha Tauri and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.

Mick Schumacher’s weekend took a turn for the worse in P3 when the German lost control of his Haas and hit the outside wall. He sat in the team garage in the hope that repairs would be completed in time for at least one qualifying lap, but the car remained unassembled throughout the opening stanza of qualifying.

After the first runs in Q1, Tsunoda, Russell, Latifi. Mazepin and Schumacher sat in the relegation zone, with Giovinazzi, Raikkonen, Vettel and Ricciardo at some risk as well. Cars returned to the pits, with most of the midfield runners taking a second set of tyres for another flying lap. It proved to be a fruitless exercise though as the tail end of the grid remained unchanged. Mazepin, Latifi, Russell and Tsunoda joined Schumacher on the sidelines for Q2.

It was some relief for Daniel Ricciardo who had been close to the pace of teammate Norris in P1 and P2, only to see his Saturday times fall away markedly. The Australian finished Q1 in 14th place, 6 places behind Norris and almost 6/10ths of a second slower.

Strategy played a key role during the early stages of Q2, with teams divided on their choice of tyre. The Medium compound represented the best option for the race, with the softer compound likely to wear out within a few laps given the high track temperatures experienced throughout Friday and Saturday. Conversely, grid position would be of paramount importance come race day which meant  that progression to Q3 was essential for a good race on Sunday.

Only the Red Bull Honda and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 drivers elected to run their first laps on the medium compound tyre. This time it was Lewis Hamilton who had the better of Verstappen, with the #44 some 2/10ths faster than the championship leader. Bottas and Perez were 3rd and 4th some half a second off Hamilton’s pace. All eyes were on the remaining 12 drivers who were all running the softer tyre.

Vettel jumped ahead of Bottas and Perez to take 3rd and was followed by Gasly in 4th. Norris had set the fastest second sector but could only manage the 7th best time as the half way point of the session passed. Ricciardo rebounded from an unspectacular Q1 to edge ahead of Norris with his first run which dropped his teammate down to 11th. Fernando Alonso celebrated his 40th birthday in style as he snared the 4th fastest time as the track temperature edged past 60 degrees.

The session was red-flagged shortly after when Carlos Sainz lost the rear of his Ferrari at the final corner and slid into the barriers. He kept the engine running and tried to driver back onto the circuit with his front wing lodged under the right front wheel.

“I crashed, sorry guys,” Sainz radioed back to his team as he stopped the car at a marshall’s post nearby.

Q2 resumed with just over 6 minutes left, with all bar Hamilton and Bottas on the soft tyre.

Verstappen went to the top of the timesheets with a 1:15.6 from Norris who somehow found half a second in his second run. Hamilton and Bottas both made it through to Q3 in 6th and 8th respectively, which places both at an advantage come race day. Daniel Ricciardo has been as high as 8th after his second flying lap despite a small error, but dropped down to 11th as Norris, Perez and then Stroll bettered the Australian’s time as the chequered flag dropped.

Ricciardo, Stroll, Raikkonen, Giovinazzi and Sainz were eliminated, which may well prove to be something of a blessing for Ricciardo who has the benefit of a free tyre choice for the race start, while 8 of the top 10 cars will all start on the soft compound.

Verstappen went out ahead of Bottas and Hamilton for his first attempt at a time in Q3 and immediately set fastest sector times to record a 1:15.9, but both Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 cars were quicker. Bottas completed his lap in a 1:15.7 and then Hamilton went almost half a second faster with a 1;15.419. The rest of the top 10 cars were over a second behind Hamilton’s fastest time.

The drivers headed out for one final attempt with a little over 2 minutes of the qualifying session remaining with Bottas ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen. Bottas and Hamilton toyed with Verstappen and Perez throughout the warm up lap, slowing to a crawl at various points, before
accelerating away. While Bottas and Hamilton both crossed the start/finish line to commence their flying lap with time to spare, Verstappen just squeezed past with less than 6 second left. Sergio Perez was not as fortunate and the chequered flag flew moments before he was able to start his lap. Neither driver improved their best time as Hamilton took pole position from Bottas, Verstappen, Perez, Gasly, Norris, Leclerc, Ocon, Alonso and Vettel.

For Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas the result was an excellent springboard for the race, though the opening laps with different tyre strategies will present their own set of problems for the team.

Hamilton’s post race interview with Johnny Herbert was momentarily interrupted as pro Verstappen patrons in the crowd jeered the pole sitter, which led to a rebuke of sorts from Herbert before continuing with the interview.

“Hey there’s enough of that,” Herbert exclaimed before continuing with the interview.

“It was an amazing qualifying lap, that last one,” Hamilton said. “ It has been amazing teamwork from everyone this weekend. Valtteri included, just trying to push the car forwards, developing it constantly. The guys back at the factory have just not left any stone unturned. I appreciate the great support I have here,” Hamilton added with a hint of irony as he pointed towards the grandstand. “Honestly, I’ve never actually felt so great with the booing. If anything it just fuels me, so I don’t really mind it.

I think the soft tyres are worth about 5 metres down into turn 1. It’s surprising to see the guys behind on the soft tyres, except for us, we’ll see. It’s definitely great having a lock out f the front row for our team, it’s the first time in a long time.”

Valtteri Bottas was also satisfied with a front row start for the race and was looking forward to the differing tyre strategies during the early laps of the race. 

“It’s good to be two Mercedes at the front, tomorrow will be exciting,” Valtteri Bottas told Sky Sports. “Red Bull will be on the softs and we are on the mediums, so all to play for and it’s going to be a good battle.”

Max Verstappen told Sky Sports that he was not overly surprised, but not happy either with the final qualifying results.

“I think the whole weekend we’ve been a bit behind and it showed again in qualifying,” Max Verstappen said to Sky Sports. “Not what we wanted but nevertheless we’re still there in P3 and we’ll see what we can do. So far not what I want.”

Verstappen later vented his frustrations during the FIA press conference when asked again about the possibility of a first lap incident with Hamilton, given the differing tyre strategies and their respective grid positions.

 “Can we just already stop about this!” Verstappen exclaimed in an expletive laden response. “We’ve had so many … questions about this. It’s just ridiculous. Honestly, the whole Thursday we’ve been answering stupid … all the time so can we just stop about it, please.

We are racers, we will race, and, of course, we are going to race hard but fair so we will just keep pushing each other.”

Driver		Grid	Qual time
	L. Hamilton Mercedes · #44	1	1:15.419
	V. Bottas Mercedes · #77	2	1:15.734
	M. Verstappen Red Bull · #33	3	1:15.840
	S. Pérez Red Bull · #11	4	1:16.421
	P. Gasly AlphaTauri · #10	5	1:16.483

	L. Norris McLaren · #4	6	1:16.489
	C. Leclerc Ferrari · #16	7	1:16.496
	E. Ocon Alpine · #31	8	1:16.653
	F. Alonso Alpine · #14	9	1:16.715
	S. Vettel Aston Martin · #5	10	1:16.750
	D. Ricciardo McLaren · #3	11	1:16.871
	L. Stroll Aston Martin · #18	12	1:16.893
	K. Räikkönen Alfa Romeo · #7	13	1:17.564
	A. Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo · #99	14	1:17.583
	C. Sainz Jr. Ferrari · #55	15	DNF
	Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri · #22	16	1:17.919
	G. Russell Williams · #63	17	1:17.944
	N. Latifi Williams · #6	18	1:18.036
	N. Mazepin Haas · #9	19	1:18.922
	M. Schumacher Haas · #47	20

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