© Getty Images2024 Hungarian Grand Prix - Qualifying ReportMax Verstappen will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from third behind the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and pole winner Lando Norris, with Checo qualifying in 16th place after crashing in damp conditions.
Despite light rain falling intermittently in the hour before Qualifying, the start of Q1 was judged dry enough for slick tyres, and Max and Checo joined the gaggle of cars queueing at the end of the pit lane.
With all 20 cars on track ahead of an expected further shower, Max’s opener of 1:17.771 left him sixth, a tenth ahead of Checo in P7. At the top of the table, Lewis Hamilton took an early P1 with a lap of 1:17.087.
With the rain staying away, most stayed out on the same set of softs, and Max’s second flyer of 1:17.287 jumped him up to third behind Carlos Sainz. Checo couldn’t improve, however, and he slipped to eighth. The Mexican kept going, but on his next lap, he took too much of the damp kerb on the right-hand side as he went into Turn 8 and spun off into the barriers. The red flags came out and the session was halted as his car was recovered.
Heading Out For Quali© Getty Images
After an 11-minute delay and with six minutes left on the clock, the session resumed, but with more rain falling and DRS disabled, it looked like improvements would be hard to come by. As the final minutes unfolded, the track rapidly dried, and the final flyer became all-important.
Max was one of the first to find time, and the Dutchman’s final 1:17.087 initially moved him up to second behind Hamilton. But it was RB’s Daniel Ricciardo who made the biggest leap. The Australian put in an impressive lap of 1:17.050 to jump from 16th ahead of the final runs to top spot at the end of the session.
Others, though, were headed the other way. Checo, already out, fell to 16th at the flag, while George Russell, unable to extract the same kind of time as his teammate from the Mercedes car, plummeted to 17th, and both exited ahead of Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, who made the mistake of staying in the garage for the final runs.
At the start of Q2, Max headed out on a new set of softs, and the Dutchman blasted to the top of the timesheet with a time of 1:15.770, eight tenths clear of Hamilton, who was on used tyres. Piastri then put in a strong lap, also on used tyres, to take second, just 0.005s behind Max. Sainz slotted into third with a second flyer, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in fourth, ahead of Norris, as the field returned to the pit lane to plot their final flyers.
And in the final runs, it was Norris who set the pace. The McLaren driver, on new softs, went quickest in the final two sectors to steal P1 from Max with a lap of 1:16.540. As the Briton set his time, Max was starting his final flyer, but while the Dutchman posted the fastest first sector, he lost time elsewhere and progressed in P2 ahead of Piastri and Sainz.
Both RBs also made it through to Q3, with Tsunoda in eighth, ahead of Ricciardo. Hamilton scraped into Q3 in 10th place, but there was no progress for Hülkenberg, who went out in P11 just one hundredth of a second behind the Mercedes driver. Also ruled out after the session were Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, who went out in P12 ahead of the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, and the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
Which Is The Real Max?© Getty Images
With rain expected midway through the final session, Max was first out on track at the start of Q3 as the remaining drivers all took to the track on new softs. And when the champion crossed the line at the end of his opening flyer, he stopped the clock at 1:15.555 to take provisional pole. Norris was finding more time, however, and the McLaren driver moved ahead of the Red Bull driver with a lap of 1:15.227.
The expected rain held off and that gave Max the chance to attack Norris’ provisional pole time. After requesting a couple of turns on his front wing to cure the understeer he experienced on his opening flyer, the Dutchman headed out for a final charge.
And over the first two sectors, the Dutchman made gains and was on target to challenge Norris’ time. However, in the final sector, during which he passed Norris, who was building for his second flyer, Max lost time. Despite improving to 1:15.273, he was bumped down to P3 as Piastri went 0.024s quicker.
Behind them all, Tsunoda ran wide at the exit of Turn 5 and the Japanese driver bounced through the air and into the barriers. The red flags immediately came out. Norris was denied a second lap out and the session was stopped for a second time, with just over two minutes on the clock.
Your Front-Row Contingency© Getty Images
That meant there might just be time to get out for another run, but the team decided that with only used softs available, there was no chance of improvement, and Max climbed out of the car to watch as Norris and Piastri headed to the end of the pit lane.
After a 13-minute delay, the session resumed, but with little effect. With used tyres on board, there were no improvements at the top of the order and Norris took his second pole of the season ahead of Piastri, with Max in third. In the end, it was only Ricciardo who found a meaningful improvement, with the Australian leapfrogging his unfortunate teammate to take P9.
| Rank | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:15.227 | |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:15.249 | |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:15.273 | |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:15.696 | |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:15.854 | |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:15.905 | |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:16.043 | |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:16.244 | |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Visa Cash App RB | 1:16.447 | |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Oracle Red Bull Racing | (Q1) - 1:17.886 | |
