Hungarian GP Qualifying: Lando Norris takes pole as McLaren secure one-two ahead of Max Verstappen in thrilling session

Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix as McLaren sealed a front-row lockout in a chaotic session.

Norris kept his focus – as rain before and during qualifying created a dramatic spectacle at the Hungaroring – to narrowly beat his team-mate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pole.

The Brit had set the fastest time before Yuki Tsunoda’s crash brought out the second of two red flags with two minutes and 13 seconds remaining in Q3, after which more rain fell to ensure the leaders were unable to improve on used tyres.

Moments before Tsunoda’s crash, as the drivers did what were meant to be their second and final flying laps of Q3, Piastri had gone just 0.022s slower than Norris, with Verstappen only a further couple of hundredths back in third. Norris was unable to finish his second effort due to the incident.

Carlos Sainz was fourth and Charles Leclerc sixth, with Lewis Hamilton splitting the Ferraris in fifth after his Mercedes team-mate George Russell made a shock Q1 exit as a result of the team failing to provide him with enough fuel.

Sergio Perez was also knocked out in Q1 after causing the first red flag of the session with a big crash, which will only increase speculation that he could remarkably be let go by Red Bull just a few months after signing a contract extension.

Norris, with the buffer of Piastri in second, has created a strong opportunity to close Verstappen’s 84-point lead over him at the top of the world championship.

McLaren are also well placed to close a seven-point deficit to second-placed Ferrari in the constructors’ standings, and to decrease a 78-point gap to leaders Red Bull.

Norris said: “[I’m] very, very happy. Not an easy qualifying, different conditions like that, but always ending up on top is the best part of it all. Especially for the team, a one-two is even better, so congrats to the team.

“We have already got confidence, so it’s not like we need a lot more of it or we are searching for it. We have come into this weekend off the back of the last few happy and confident we can do a good job and we have a good car to fight for pole, which is what we did today.

“We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us. Two cars at the front row, we can control it from there, so as long as we stay where we are we’ll be happy.”

Fernando Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll took seventh and eighth, respectively, in an improved performance from Aston Martin.

Daniel Ricciardo beat RB team-mate Tsunoda to ninth, with the Australian gaining a position after becoming the only driver to improve his time in the period at the end of Q3 following the red flag.

Norris, McLaren hit back with statement display

Norris arrived in Hungary facing questions over his and McLaren’s failure to seal a victory that was in their hands at Silverstone two weeks earlier, and after topping second and third practice he was once more in the position of favourite going into qualifying.

However, the advantage he appeared to have over his rivals in dry conditions was rendered somewhat irrelevant when the session began following an hour of light rain, and with more gentle showers expected.

The track temperature, at 30 degrees Celsius, was only half of what it had been at the start of first practice in sweltering conditions on Friday.

Having just about navigated his way through a frantic Q1, Norris came into his own as the track dried out and got closer to the conditions he had looked so strong in.

By the time Q3 began, it was clear his only true rivals for pole were Piastri and Verstappen, but it appeared the contest could be reduced to just one lap as engineers warned drivers of approaching rain.

It was Norris who aced that first lap, finishing three tenths clear of Verstappen, with Piastri about the same distance further back in third.

However, the rain was not as heavy as expected, and purple first sectors flashed up as the contenders almost immediately returned to the track on fresh tyres.

Piastri leapfrogged Verstappen by closing to within a fraction of Norris, before the Dutchman came up just short of the McLaren pair himself, punching his steering wheel in frustration after finishing his lap and then opting not to return to the track at the end of the session, rightly assuming he wouldn’t have been able to improve.

Norris was only in the early stages of his lap when Tsunoda crashed, but that magical first effort deservedly proved enough to seal the third pole position of his career, which comes just three races after he ended a near three-year wait for his second.

The front-row lockout, McLaren’s first since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix when Hamilton and Jenson Button were first and second, is further evidence they are currently the most consistently fast team in the sport.

This result is even more significant given it comes on a weekend where Red Bull, whose early-season dominance has come to an abrupt end over the last couple of months, brought a big upgrade package that they had hoped would re-establish some sort of an advantage over their rivals.

While the RB20 may have still have strong race pace, McLaren are in a hugely strong position to claim a victory at a circuit where overtaking is highly challenging.

“I tried. The whole weekend we have been a little bit behind and that was also the case in qualifying,” Verstappen said. “I tried to make it as close as possible but unfortunately just not enough. A bit difficult to pinpoint why that is, I would have liked a bit more grip but it’s not there at the moment.”

Perez woes continue as Russell makes shock exit

Also facing questions coming into the weekend was Perez, whose shocking run of form has seen him claim just 15 points in the last six rounds.

Despite the fact he was given a two-year contract extension at the start of June, speculation has been growing that Red Bull could replace him at the summer break, with reserve driver Liam Lawson reportedly a contender.

There was plenty of positivity from Perez and Red Bull boss Christian Horner after a decent practice showing on Friday, but that good work was undone as he lost control at Turn 8 in the greasy Q1 conditions and shunted into the barriers.

“I’m obviously very disappointed because the weekend has been really strong up to now,” Perez said. “It hurts to let your whole team down, but at the end of the day I’m determined more than ever to get back where we belong as a team.”

The incident paused the session with just short of seven minutes still remaining, and rain intensified during the 11-minute stoppage.

However, once the cars came back out on track, a dry line quickly developed, leaving the likes of Russell, who had been 14th at the time of the stoppage, vulnerable to an early exit.

The Brit, who has been in fine qualifying form this season, dominating team-mate Hamilton and claiming two pole positions, was only able to marginally improve to 10th as the track ramped up.

Then, as others went faster, he was ordered to pit as Mercedes had not provided him with sufficient fuel for another flying lap, leaving him to slip down to 17th as the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Ricciardo improved, with the latter going fastest of all in Q1 to show the track’s potential at that point.

Hamilton very nearly followed Russell out in Q2, but survived by a hundredth of a second as Mercedes regressed having appeared strong in the cooler conditions at the start of the session.

The seven-time world champion, buoyed by ending a 56-race winless streak last time out at Silverstone, ultimately salvaged fifth, but there was evidence that Mercedes still have work to do to be permanent contenders at the front after successive victories.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1: “That was a total underperformance from literally everybody involved here.

“Losing a car in Q1 is just not on… driver-team combination, it shouldn’t happen. And at the end we just didn’t have the pace. A very, very disappointing day.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule

Sunday July 21
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Hungarian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

Next up for F1 is the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest on July 19-21. You can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime