Lewis Hamilton took his 90th career pole, and his 7th at this circuit, as he looks to make more inroads into his teammate’s championship lead.
The Mercedes were the class of the field, nearly a whole second ahead of their closest competitors. We didn’t have wet weather to point to this weekend. This is all pace.
Elsewhere, Williams continues to make progress up the order, having had their best qualifying for years. Ferrari start their recovery at the biggest aero challenge of this curtailed championship.
Q1:
Williams got two cars through to Q2 for the first time since Monza 2018. While the former powerhouse was celebrating a turn in form, the established dynasties in Ferrari and Red Bull were left to sweat it out in a session that had their drivers waiting to the very last runs to secure their passage.
The pink cars of Racing Point left nobody in doubt at the potential that was on show last weekend. They topped the session 1-2, ahead of Hamilton by over two-tenths.
The McLarens continue to impress comfortably into the next session. They continue to have their best start to a season since leaving Mercedes engines behind in 2014.
Q1 Eliminations:
16 Magnussen
17 Kvyat
18 Grosjean
19 Giovinazzi
20 Raikkonen
Q2:
If you needed any more proof of how strong Hamilton and his Mercedes are around Hungary, then his lap of 1:14:261 on mediums was about nine-tenths faster than the next non-Mercedes car of Sebastian Vettel on softs.
Racing point stuck with their gamble of starting the race tomorrow on medium tyres by refusing to bolt on the softs, with fast drivers behind them in contention to knock them out.
The gamble paid off though, as the Renaults couldn’t get into Q3 alongside Alexander Albon in the Red Bull.
That’s three races in a row in which we have had one of the top six seats, before the season started, knocked out before Q3.
Q2 Eliminations:
11 Ricciardo
12 Russell
13 Albon
14 Ocon
15 Latifi
Q3:
Ferrari out-qualify both the Red Bulls for the first time this year, but are behind both ‘Tracing Point‘ cars. They had the chance to show what they have over the rest of the field.
Mercedes were in a league of their own out front. Their closest rivals to them on pace is a car based on their own year-old concept.
It will be hard to look past the leading pair having a personal fight for the race tomorrow, but there’s plenty to look out for on Sunday afternoon.
Can Williams translate their qualifying result into race pace?
Are Ferrari really on the way back to the front?
Will Racing Point take a podium in front of the giants in the chasing pack?
Will it stay dry?
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