© Vladimir RysBulls Lock Out Row Two In BudapestMax qualifies P3 and Checo P4 at the Hungaroring.
After making comfortable progress through the opening phase of qualifying, a tight battle at the end of Q2 for berths in the final top-10 shootout saw both Max and Checo complete their final runs on soft tyres. Mercedes, meanwhile, opted to set their fastest laps of Q2 on the yellow mediums and so Max and Sergio will start tomorrow’s race on the quicker, though more fragile soft.
But while Max topped Q2 on soft tyres, he couldn’t repeat the performance in the final segment. Hamilton set a tough target of 1:15.419 in the opening runs, four-tenths quicker than Max, who slotted into P3 behind Bottas.
And with the Dutchman only able to improve by a tenth in the final runs, Hamilton and Bottas were able to hang onto the front row, with Max qualifying third and Checo finishing P4.
Max On Softs During Qualifying© Getty Images
At the beginning of the hour, following Yuki Tsunoda and Kimi Räikkönen taking turns at the top of the Q1 order, the frontrunners were quickly into action, with Bottas first across the line. The Finn took P1 with a lap of 1:16.610, but he was soon deposed by Hamilton who lowered the benchmark to 1:16.424.
Max wasn’t far behind the Mercedes drivers on track, though, and when the Dutchman crossed the line, he halted the stopwatch at 1:16.214 to settle into P1. Checo, meanwhile, opened his Q1 account with a lap of 1:17.300. As better laps flooded in, the Mexican dropped to P9. He opted for a second attempt but only improved to 1:17.233 and still held ninth ahead of the final runs.
The Team deemed his time safe, however, and both he and Max stayed in the garage in the final minutes. There was little movement in the final runs of the segment and Max eased through to Q2 in top spot with Checo progressing in an eventual P11.
Eliminated at the end of the first session were AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda in P16, Williams’ George Russell and Nicholas Latifi in P17 and P18 respectively and Haas’ Nikita Mazepin in P19. The Russian’s teammate, Mick Schumacher, didn’t make it out on track in the session with Haas unable to repair his car following an earlier crash in FP3.
Max Sends It On Softs At The Hungaroring© Vladimir Rys
Both Bulls emerged for Q2 on medium tyres and Max’s first run netted him a time of 1:16.769 and P2 behind Hamilton who set the pace at 1:16.553. Max was bounced out to P3 late on however, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, on soft tyres, set an impressive lap of 1:16725.
Checo, meanwhile, took an early fourth place behind Bottas with a lap of 1:17.203. However, as rivals exploited the grip of their soft tyres, both were shuffled down the order, with Bottas dropping to P6 and Checo to P7.
The session was then halted as Carlos Sainz lost control of his Ferrari in the final corner and slid into the barriers. The red flags were quickly displayed.
After a short delay the action resumed and both Bulls this time took to the track on soft tyres. Max duly vaulted to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:15.650 while Checo went through to Q3 in P4 thanks to an improved time of 1:16.443. Both Mercedes drivers opted to back out of their final laps and after progressing in P6 and P8 will start on medium tyres, the opposite strategy to the Bulls.
Eliminated at the end of Q2 were 11th placed Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi and the unfortunate Sainz.
Up Close With Checo In Quali© Getty Images
In the first runs of Q3, Hamilton laid down a tough marker with an opening time of 1:15.419. Bottas followed on 1:15.734 and Max sat in P3 with an opening time of 1:15.984. Checo ended the first runs in fourth place with a lap of 1:16.421, 0.225s ahead of Leclerc.
And though Max was able to improve on his final run, the 0.144s gained was not enough to trouble Hamilton and the defending thus claimed his 101st career pole position. Bottas was second with Max third and Checo was able to hang on to fourth place on the grid with his opening run time so, will line up alongside Max on row two.
Behind the Bulls, Pierre Gasly put in an impressive lap of 1:16.483 to take fifth place on the grid with McLaren’s Lando Norris in sixth. Charles Leclerc will start P7 for Ferrari with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Fernando in eighth and ninth. The final top 10 position went to Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
Hungarian Grand Prix 2021: Qualifying
Max To Start On Softs Tomorrow© Getty Images
Max Will Line Up P3 For The Hungarian GP© Getty Images
Sun Shines For Qualifying© Getty Images
Hitting The Hungarian Start/Finish Straight© Getty Images
Max Heads Out In Hungary© Getty Images
Checo Heads Out For A Medium Tyre Lap© Getty Images
Checo Starts P4 At The Hungaroring© Getty Images
Time To Rest Up For Race Day© Getty Images
Orange Army Out In Force Again© Getty Images
On A Hot Lap In Hungary© Getty Images
“The whole weekend so far we have been a bit behind and qualifying was the same. I went a bit backwards on my Q3 lap compared to Q2 and I just didn’t have the same grip for some reason. I don’t know if it was track or tyre related but the balance was a bit off to push everywhere and around here the corners all follow really quickly so if you don’t feel good in one corner, the next one won’t be great either. I lost a bit of lap time on the final run but even with a faster out lap and a slightly better balance I don’t think we would have been on pole.
The start around here is very important so we will give it a good go and fight to get the best out of the race.
"P3 isn’t where we want to be and we cannot be happy with that but nevertheless, we are still up there with Checo next to me so we will see what we can do in the race. We will also find out if starting on the soft is a good strategy as it’s going to be really hot. The softer tyre won’t last as long as the medium but maybe it will help us off the line. The start around here is very important so we will give it a good go and fight to get the best out of the race.”
“I certainly felt that I was making good progress throughout qualifying with the car. It was a real shame to lose that final lap because I felt that it had good potential. At the time we thought we had plenty of margin to work with, unfortunately that wasn’t the case and it meant that I basically lost my final attempt.
"We knew Mercedes were going to be very strong today but I really hope tomorrow we are able to put a lot of pressure onto them. We have a different strategy and are looking forward to the start, this is a place where if you get one or two corners right there is plenty of lap time to be found. In an ideal scenario we will get ahead of them and hold position but the race is very long and anything can happen.”
We prefer the soft tyre for the start and we’ve got to drive an attacking race as we know how hard it is to overtake around here.
“Mercedes have been quick all weekend here but Max’s time in Q2 looked pretty impressive. In Q3 he wasn’t completely happy with the balance of the car, so third was as good as we had today. Locking out the second row with Max and Checo gives us options and we have a different strategy from Mercedes ahead which is going to make it an exciting race. We couldn’t do the same time as Lewis did on the medium and we felt that maybe tactically it was better to take a different route. We prefer the soft tyre for the start and we’ve got to drive an attacking race as we know how hard it is to overtake around here which means strategy is going to be crucial.
It’s different strategies, it’s different grip levels, we’ve got to get a good start and take the fight to them tomorrow. "Lewis had a hell of a first Q3 lap in the bank and he just didn’t want to give our cars any advantage on the final out lap, which unfortunately meant Checo lost out on a second Q3 run. It was just a bit of gamesmanship. It’s his right to do that as he had track position and we don’t have an issue, it’s all about tomorrow now. We know Silverstone and Budapest are very much Mercedes strongholds. If you look at their performances last year we were a second off at Silverstone and more than that here so we take encouragement that we are as close as we are. It’s different strategies, it’s different grip levels, we’ve got to get a good start and take the fight to them tomorrow. It’s a long second half of this championship and it’s going to be well worth watching.”
HungarianGrandPrixQualifyingTop10
| Position | Driver | Team | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Valtteri Bottas | Max Verstappen | Sergio Pérez | Pierre Gasly | Lando Norris | Charles Leclerc | Esteban Ocon | Fernando Alonso | Sebastian Vettel |
| Mercedes | Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Red Bull Racing Honda | AlphaTauri | McLaren | Ferrari | Alpine | Alpine | Aston Martin |
