Key events
Speaking after the end of Q3 both Piastri and Norris said the wind was a major factor in the difference in performance from Q1. They were slightly stunned not to be locking out the front row.
The back of the grid will look like this:
11. Ollie Bearman (Haas)
12. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
13. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
14. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
15. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
16. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
17. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
18. Esteban Ocon (Haas)
19. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
20. Alex Albon (Williams)
A bit of reaction from Leclerc after taking pole: “Today I dn’t understand anything in F1. All of qualifying has been super difficult, it was difficult in Q1 and difficult in Q2. The conditions were different in Q3. I was just hoping to go third quickest and post a fast time.
“It is one of the best poles I’ve ever had, the most unexpected for sure.”
On whether he can win tomorrow: “The start and turn one will be key. I will do every to keep first place and if we do that it will make it easier to win.”
Final top ten for the Hungarian Grand Prix after Q3
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1min 15.372secs
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.026
3. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.041
4. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.053
5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.109
6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.126
7. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +0.353
8. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.356
9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.449
10. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.543
Both McLarens were under 1min 15secs in Q2 but failed to better than time in Q3. That allowed Leclerc to take his first pole of the season.
Leclerc takes pole!
The McLarens are in and they can’t go faster than Leclerc, Piastri goes second and Norris third. What a stunner for Ferrari.
Leclerc takes provisional pole with a 1min 15.372secs!
The McLarens are on out laps. We’ll have their times, and likely the names on the front row, shortly.
Alonso posts the second quckest time. He’s now ahead of Norris and just behind Piastri.
Three minutes to go. Stroll goes third and Alonso is currently going quicker. Can he go top?
Hadjar in the Racing Bull also failed to post a lap time. He is currently tenth, with Stroll ninth.
The Aston Martins are out early again. Can Alonso improve on his initial time?
Alonso and Verstappen make up the rest of the top five after those first laps.
Great time for George Russell in the Mercedes. He is currently third on the provisional grid.
Stroll has his lap time deleted for going over track limits.
Norris goes top but it’s slower than his best in Q2. Piastri has a chance to post the fastest time, can he? He can. No times lower than 1min 15secs yet.
Alonso goes top ahead of Lawson and Leclerc in the early stages here.
Stroll and Alonso head out as the first cars on track for Q3. Here we go.
Impressive stuff from the Racing Bulls, who are both in the top ten shootout, and the Aston Martins, especially third-placed Stroll.
Eliminated in Q2
11. Kimi Antonelli
12. Ollie Bearman
13. Lewis Hamilton
14. Carlos Sainz
15. Franco Colapinto
Leclerc and Hamilton do not dramatically improve their times. Hamilton is heading out here.
Leclerc and Hamilton are heading out in hope of an open road. They should have time to get two goes at this.
Stroll is the only car on the track currently, it looks like the scare of rain has died down. No issues reported on the track.
Seven minutes to go in Q2, the bottom five is currently Hamilton, Sainz, Bortoleto, Antonelli and Colapinto.
The Ferraris are on the bubble. Leclerc is 10th and Hamilton 11th.
Norris gets a “wow” from Martin Brundle on commentary, too right. The McLaren driver clocks a 1min 14.830secs. Piastri is close, but not quicker. They’re one and two on the leaderboard as it stands.
Fernando Alonso posts a 1min 15.395secs lap time to go fastest.
The Mercedes drivers post the opening times of Q2 but are slower than their best in Q1.
Kimi Antonelli is out first, let’s see what he manages to post.
Rain jackets are coming on in the stands, apparently it is raining at turn six. This could impact things, the drivers want to get out there.
Q2 is underway and the cars are filtering out of the pitlane.
Q2 slightly delayed due debris, we’ll be underway in around a minute.
Zak Brown says that McLaren are preserving tyres for Q3, which explains why Norris didn’t improve on his first quick lap in Q1.
Eliminated in Q1
16. Yuki Tsunoda
17. Pierre Gasly
18. Esteban Ocon
19. Nico Hulkenberg
20. Alex Albon
Liam Lawson clocks in a late tim that pushed Tsunoda down and out of Q1. The Red Bull driver has been struggling og late, he’s joined in the exit lane by Ocon, Gasly, Hulkenburg and Albon.
With little over a minute of Q1 to go. Piastri back on top with a 1min 15.211secs.
Fernando Alonso has just posted a new fastest time. He’s clocked a 1min 15.281 secs.
Ocon, Gasly, Bearman, Tsunoda and Sainz are all in the danger zone ahead of the final hot laps of Q1. Five minutes to go.
Eight cars are back in the pits setting up for their final run. Piastri is still top dog, but the Mercedes cars are now two and three. Troublingly for Red Bull both of their cars are both in the bottom ten. Verstappen is 13th and Yuki Tsunoda is 17th.
Piastri goes top of the leaderboard with a 1min 15.554secs, he currently leads from Norris and Hamilton. We’ve just ticked under ten minutes to go in Q1.
Albon posts the first time of qualifying, it’s in the 1min 17s and that won’t be troubling the top of the leaderboard.
Here we go, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon are now on track, 15 minutes to go until the end of Q1.
We have a green light on Q1, no cars on track yet.
There is some rain on the horizon, it’s not nearing the Hungaroring just yet. Worth tracking though.
We’re about 15 minutes from Q1. I’d go make your cups of tea now, if I were you.
Fred Vasseur, who has just signed a new long-term deal to continue as Ferrari team principal, has been speaking with Sky ahead of qualifying. Below are few of his key quotes.
On his new contract “If you want to win, you need stability in management.”
On Ferrari’s progress: “Lots of teams would like to be P2 [in the constructors’ championship]. The target is P1 and we are trying to be closer to closer to McLaren.”
On trying to get a race win this season: “It’s important to win, but that is dependent on circumstances and we need to be closer to Mclaren in the race. We are close in quali but need to be closer in the race. Step by step we’re getting closer.”
Giles Richards
Success breeds expectation as Lewis Hamilton, who has enjoyed both like few other drivers in Formula One, knows only too well. Having set himself the task of returning a title for Ferrari, anticipation for his first season with the team was off the scale but success has been far from forthcoming. As the Scuderia have struggled the seven-time champion has been drawing on every bit of experience in what may be the defining challenge of his storied career.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend Ferrari announced they were extending their contract with team principal, Fred Vasseur, backing the Frenchman who was instrumental in bringing Hamilton on board to complete his mission of reforging Ferrari into a championship-winning outfit after underachieving for so long. However as the season approaches its summer break, with 10 races to come after Budapest and Ferrari winless, Vasseur still has much to achieve.
Read Giles’ latest from the Hungarian Grand Prix in full:
Lando Norris is a bit of a different character to those you usually see at the top of end elite sport. You only have to look at the Red Bull and Ferrari garages to see sportsmen cast in the traditional mould, but Norris does not seem to enjoy needle. It was suggested to the McLaren driver yesterday that he needed to try and get in the head teammate Oscar Piastri if the Briton is to ultimately win the drivers’ championship this season.
“I don’t enjoy that. In 200 years no one is going to care. We’ll all be dead,” replied Norris.
“I am trying to have a good time. I still care about it, and that’s why I get upset sometimes and I get disappointed and I get angry at myself. And I think that shows just how much I care about winning and losing.
“But that doesn’t mean I need to take it out on Oscar. I just don’t get into those kind of things.”
Top ten from FP3 this morning
1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1min 14.916secs
2. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.032secs
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.399secs
4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.768secs
5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.829secs
6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.878secs
7. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.912secs
8. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.924secs
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +1.109secs
Preamble
In a rare twist, last week’s qualifying at Spa did not decide the race, but it did offer plenty of drama. Lewis Hamilton fell foul of track limits to go out in Q1 and Oscar Piastri was pipped to pole by McLaren teammate Lando Norris. More of the same today, please.
Placing qualification at the Hungaroring in the 2025 season’s broader context, Norris said earlier this week that title will come down to “who qualifies first and second more often” while making the “least mistakes when they qualify first”. He noted that there have not been a lot of races where the lead has changed hands after turn one. This analysis is both correct and, therefore, a strong self-critique of his performance in the race at the Belgian Grand Prix, where he won the qualifying battle but lost the lead to Piastri on the first lap.
As we prepare to enter the summer break, Piastri has won three times in races where he hasn’t qualified on pole, Norris has only managed this once, that coming at Silverstone. These are the fine margins that Norris will need to turn in his favour in Hungary and for the remainder of the season.
It is foolish to read too much into practice but Norris was quicker than Piastri on Friday, albeit neither of those were under optimum conditions, but then the Australian clocked a 1min 14.916secs lap this morning to go 0.032secs quicker than his teammate.
Elsewhere eyes in the Ferrari garage will be on Lewis Hamilton after he failed to get out of Q1 in both the sprint and main race last weekend. Late-stage Hamilton at Ferrari has become a curious entity, he is rarely troubling the podium places and also seems much more willing to admit mistakes. He described his qualifying performance as “unacceptable” and said he would be apologising to his team. Even though it is obvious that the Ferrari is not currenty fast enough to be winning races, Hamilton’s actions smack of a new hire who wants to ingratiate themselves with their colleagues.
Undoubtedly the Briton is hopeful that it will payoff somewhere down the line when the team produce a competitve vehicle. It is now some time since the seven-time world champion had one of those. However, Fred Vasseur has signed a new deal with the Italian team, so the higher-ups clearly think the direction of travel is good. The Ferraris performed well this morning with Charles Leclerc notching the third quickest lap and Hamilton the fourth.
