After playing down his chances and trailing the McLarens throughout free practice, Charles Leclerc snatched pole with a mighty lap that came seemingly out of nowhere.
Leclerc’s form throughout qualifying gave little indication of what he had in store. For a brief moment, the Monegasque looked to be on the verge of a Q1 exit, only to save himself at the last time of asking. Additionally, Leclerc suffered wayward moments at turns four and seven in Q2. However, as the final part of qualifying got underway, the track temperature fell and the McLarens – having looked untouchable all weekend – started to struggle for pace.
Never mind the surprised onlookers, Leclerc himself could barely believe his time, later saying, “Today I don’t understand anything in Formula One”. Having described this circuit as his weakest coming into this weekend, a 27th career pole is a welcome surprise for both team and driver.
After dominating free practice and going fastest in both Q1 and Q2, McLaren’s late drop off in pace was something of a shock as neither Oscar Piastri nor Lando Norris could match Leclerc in the cooler conditions at the end of Q3. Even so, Piastri was able to secure second, just two hundredths of a second off Leclerc, while Norris was 15 milliseconds further back in third. With strategy and tyre wear major factors in Budapest, it's safe to say Leclerc will have plenty to think about on Sunday.
Given Mercedes’ recent dip in form, George Russell’s late surge to fourth served as yet another reminder of his one-lap brilliance. The Brit having unexpectedly bested the session’s standout midfield entry: Aston Martin.
Too often this year, we have seen the Silverstone-based squad show decent pace in free practice, only to tail off as the weekend progresses. However, with the AMR 25 sporting floor and wing upgrades for this weekend, both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were able to mix it up with the frontrunners. Whereas Stroll went out twice in Q2, Alonso did not and therefore had a fresh set of soft tyres to use in Q3. Stroll’s initial run was good enough for P3, while Alonso went second fastest. They may have been superseded by the likes of Leclerc, Russell, and the McLarens later on, but locking out the third row of the grid is by far the team’s best qualifying result of the season.
Further back, Gabriel Bortoleto made it into Q3 for the second consecutive time with a strong run to seventh, while Max Verstappen confirmed Red Bull’s poor form by only managing eighth. The reigning world champion later admitted to not being able to solve the issues with balance and likened the instability to driving on ice during the session.
A strong showing from RB saw both drivers make it into Q3. Liam Lawson will line up ninth ahead of Isack Hadjar.
Ollie Bearman qualified a familiar 11th, one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton. In contrast to his teammates’ jubilation, Hamilton’s frustration was clear for all to see. The seven-time world champion was brutally honest in his self-assessment, describing his performance as ‘useless’ and not one he could attribute to the car.
Carlos Sainz was the stronger of the two Williams drivers but could only manage 13th ahead of Franco Colapinto, who outqualified his teammate for only the second time this season. Kimi Antonelli briefly looked to have gotten out of Q1 with a ragged but rapid run to eighth but was found to have exceeded track limits at turn 13 and had his lap time deleted, relegating him to 15th on the grid.
Yuki Tsunoda underlined Red Bull’s poor form by qualifying 16th ahead of Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, and Alex Albon.
Sunday’s race looks set to be a dry affair; however, with qualifying having been turned on its head by a drop in temperature, it's safe to say nothing looks certain ahead of the grand prix.
