HUNGARIAN GP – George Russell pips the Ferrari’s to secure his maiden pole position
George Russell has taken his first pole position after beating the two Ferrari’s by four-hundredths of a second in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver pulled out a surprise 17.337 to pip Carlos Sainz and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
Throughout his career, Russell has earned the nickname “Mr Saturday” given his performance in qualifying, his fastest time coming right at the end of the session to pip Sainz. The Englishman was an unlikely contender for pole, considering on his fastest lap he didn’t set a purple sector but combined the time was good enough for pole.
Mercedes have had so many struggles this season and in recent races have started to nibble at the heels of Ferrari and Red Bull, since they got on top of the porpoising and bouncing issues. Those struggles looked to continue as Mercedes were off the pace in all three practice sessions.
Russell gave a glimpse of what might be possible with second fastest time in the first qualifying session, and he was also second fastest after the first runs in the final session. He said, “I am over the moon, absolutely buzzing. I mean, yesterday was arguably our worst Friday of the season and we worked so hard and we didn’t know what direction to go in.”
Verstappen added “We made some changes that were very positive and the car was a lot nicer today but we couldn’t show it today because of the power issue. I still don’t really know what it is but I hope everything is fixable.”
Sainz had set the early benchmark in Q3, with Russell half a second off and Leclerc having oversteered at Turn One. The two title rivals Leclerc and Verstappen both had oversteer and understeer respectively, with the Ferrari having a snap of oversteer at Turn One as he struggled for grip from his tyres.
While the Red Bull driver going wide at Turn Two. On his final attempt, the Dutchman also complained about “no power,” which the team were unable to correct. That forced him to abort the lap, compounding the difficult Saturday for Red Bull.
The surprise grid sets up a potentially thrilling race on Sunday, with Russell seeking his first F1 victory and Ferrari looking to reduce the 63-point lead held by Verstappen, who will no doubt have designs on working his way back through the field.
Leclerc may have the opportunity to eat into that lead given that Hungaroring is known historically to be one of the more difficult circuits to overtake.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms had been forecast for all of Saturday, but after a wet final practice, the rain stayed away for qualifying. But that added to the intrigue of the session, where Ferrari looked to be the favourites and Mercedes no where near pole position.
Lando Norris was fourth fastest seven-tenths off Russell and ahead of the two Alpine’s, with Esteban Ocon going seven hundredths faster than teammate Fernando Alonso. This weekend the midfield has been once again incredibly close between the midfield teams.
Lewis Hamilton who holds the pole record in Budapest was seven and a half tenths behind his teammate in seventh. But the Mercedes driver was unable to lose his DRS on the final lap and was six hundredths behind Alonso sandwiched between his two former teammates after going a hundredth and a half ahead of Valtteri Bottas.
Daniel Ricciardo was ninth going ahead of Verstappen by four tenths, the championship favourite by a second and a half behind Russell’s pole time. Red Bull’s qualifying had started to go wrong at the end of Q2 when Sergio Perez’s lap which put him safely through to the final session was deleted for track limits with him missing out by seven hundredths.
It was rather odd afternoon for Perez, who also complained about being blocked in Q2 by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen on his final run. His best lap was deleted in a marginal decision that he was over the white line at Turn Four, however, replays showed not all four wheels crossed fully over the white lines.
While the debate over whether the Red Bull driver being over the white line didn’t really matter as the time which had been deleted wasn’t good enough for Q3. He told reporters “It was very unfortunate because I lost a few tenths. I missed out on Q3 by a few hundredths (of a second). Going into Turn 2 I lost a lot with Kevin.”
Perez’s troubles began in Q1 when he was only fourteenth putting him at risk from the sister Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly. However, the Frenchman’s best time, good enough for thirteenth, was deleted dropping him to nineteenth for track limits, his teammate Yuki Tsunoda only going sixteenth.
The Japanese driver missing out by three tenths after similarly crossing the white lines earlier in the session at the same protracted right-hand bend to have to start all over again.
Guanyu Zhou found a window to put his Alfa Romeo twelfth fastest going three and a half tenths ahead of Magnussen, the Dane aborting his final run after failing to improve in the first two sectors. Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin fourteenth splitting the two Haas’s going nearly eight hundredths ahead of Mick Schumacher.
Behind Tsunoda was Alex Albon who was two hundredths ahead of Sebastian Vettel. The four-time world champion who announced his retirement on Thursday appeared to struggle for balance, following a crash in third practice. He was three-tenths ahead of Gasly.
Nicolas Latifi who had been a surprise pace setter in FP3, might have progressed into the Q2 fight when yet again he mastered the first sector to set a purple run late on. While his sectors looked good he made a mistake which cost him seven tenths through the final corner.