2022 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying report and highlights: Russell beats Sainz to take shock maiden pole at Hungaroring as Red Bulls hit trouble

George Russell took his first F1 pole position at the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix to hold off the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, while Max Verstappen starts a provisional 10th after suffering a loss of power in Q3.

After a wet final practice session led by Nicholas Latifi, qualifying took place in dry conditions. Q1 was topped by Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton taking advantage of track developments to lead team-mate George Russell. The drivers continued to increase the pace in Q2, with Verstappen leading Leclerc.

In Q3, Verstappen was left in despair due to a loss of power and with the Ferraris in provisional pole, he could only see his pole hopes disappear. However, Russell caused a major shock for the Scuderia with a lap of 1m 17.377s that held off Carlos Sainz by 0.044s, and Charles Leclerc third by almost two tenths.

Lando Norris qualified on row two, while Esteban Ocon will share row three with his Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was seventh and former teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified eighth, leaving Daniel Ricciardo ninth and Verstappen an unlucky P10.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was a shock elimination from Q2 in P11 – Perez frustrated at hitting traffic on his final effort. Zhou Guanyu was pleased with his P12 performance for Alfa Romeo, while Kevin Magnussen took P13 in the upgraded Haas – although he was the driver who drew Perez’s ire.

Lance Stroll settled for 14th place and Mick Schumacher was last in Q2 as he is set to start the Hungarian GP in a tentative 15th place.

Yuki Tsunoda missed out on Q2 by 0.035s as he qualified 16th, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel in P18. Pierre Gasly lost due to track limits and qualified 19th to make it a double-Q1 elimination for AlphaTauri, and FP3 star Nicholas Latifi rounded out the standings thanks to a mistake at the final corner.

After a painful display in France, Ferrari have taken their first step towards redemption – while Mercedes are back on top. At least for now…

AS IT SAID

Q1 – Hamilton and Russell start on the front foot

After a soggy FP3 session – which saw Nicholas Latifi take first place – qualifying got underway in dry conditions – with patches of ash clouds painting a lingering backdrop.

Max Verstappen went on top early with a lap of 1m 19.020s as the Ferraris stayed in the garage for the first few minutes of Q1. With more and more rubber laid down, the times duly tumbled and Verstappen improved and led the bulk of Q1.

Late runs from Mercedes saw Lewis Hamilton crash the party with a time of 1m 18.374s, his team-mate George Russell just 0.033s off with his effort. Carlos Sainz improved to P3, 0.060s off the pace, while Verstappen was bumped down to P4 by a margin of 0.135s to leave Lando Norris to round out the top five for McLaren.

Fernando Alonso was less than a tenth from Norris in P6, Ricciardo just behind the two-time champion in seventh, while Charles Leclerc battled to P8.

Esteban Ocon finished ninth and Valtteri Bottas rounded out a top 10 split by 0.561s. Zhou Guanyu was just behind his teammate and kept Kevin Magnussen at bay in P12. Sergio Perez was anonymous in P13, with Mick Schumacher in 14th and then Lance Stroll the last two drivers coming to safety.

Yuki Tsunoda lost a Q2 place by 0.035s, Alex Albon next on the board in P17, while Sebastian Vettel – whose FP3 crash damage was fixed by the hard-working Aston Martin team along with Vettel himself – was dejected to finish 18th.

Track limits at turn 5 cost Pierre Gasly, who finished 19th, and FP3 leader Latifi finished last with a fault at the final corner, despite setting a purple first sector on his final run.

Eliminated: Tsunoda, Albon, Vettel, Gasly, Latifi

Q2 – Perez loses while Verstappen and Leclerc set the pace

Times in Q2 threatened to dip below the 1m 18s mark, given the rapid track development, and Verstappen was the first to break this barrier with a time of 1m 17.703s, keeping Alonso at bay by 0.201s. A lock-up on his first effort cost Q1 leader Hamilton; Perez’s time was chalked off for track limits.

Verstappen did not improve on his first effort, but Leclerc jumped to P2 by 0.065s to pip Alonso down to P3. Sainz was 0.038 seconds behind his compatriot in P4, with Hamilton rounding out the top five.

Ricciardo improved with his last effort to find safety in P8, Ocon just by McLaren in P9 and Bottas the last driver to reach the top-10 shootout.

Although Perez’s lap was reinstated, he lost out on Q3 by 0.071s and the Red Bull driver tore into traffic in the form of Magnussen (P13) in Sector 1 on his final run. Between Red Bull and Haas, Zhou was in P12, the rookie was pleased with his showing.

Stroll was almost seven tenths from safety in 14th place – leaving Schumacher last and almost eight tenths from safety.

Eliminated: Perez, Zhou, Magnussen, Stroll, Schumacher

Q3 – Ferrari have ripped the pole away from a magical Russell lap

The clouds refused to let go, but Q3 was anything but dry action-wise, with at least three drivers in the race for pole position. Sainz set the early benchmark of 1m 17.505s, Russell was second – almost half a second off – while a mistake in Sector 3 saw Leclerc move into provisional third ahead of Hamilton.

As for Verstappen, his first run put him seventh, 1.318 seconds off the pace. He soon reported a loss of power, triggering a furious flicking of switches and dials in the RB18 cockpit. “Nothing works,” barked Verstappen as his pole hopes began to fade.

Sainz knew he was leaving time on the table and shot to the top on his final run with a time of 1m 17.421s. But Russell’s breathtaking effort trumped all, the Brit delivering his first career pole position and Mercedes’ first of the season with a dazzling time of 1m 17.377s.

Leclerc therefore settled for third place, with Norris sharing the second row with P4 – just under four tenths off Russell’s pace.

Ocon rounded out the top five and Alonso ensured Alpine will occupy the third row as he qualified sixth. Meanwhile, Hamilton was not satisfied as he settled for seventh, with former team-mate Bottas eighth.

Ricciardo qualified ninth, while a beleaguered Verstappen will start a provisional 10th on Sunday after Red Bull failed to diagnose its costly power unit fault.

Key quote

“I absolutely love buzzing. Yesterday was probably our worst Friday of the season and everyone last night worked so hard. We didn’t really know what direction to go in and then the last lap got Round 1 , mega lap 1, went lap 2, lap 2 was mega and the lap times just kept coming, kept coming. I hit the line, looked over at the screen and saw we were going P1. It was an incredible feeling!” – George Russell, Mercedes

What’s next?

Russell is on pole, Ferrari is chasing and the Red Bulls have it all to recover when the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix gets underway at 15.00 local time on Sunday.