#F1 Qualifying Report: @LewisHamilton claims blistering #HungarianGP pole.

Lewis Hamilton clinched pole position for the Hungarian GP ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Racing Point pairing Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez.

After the top four Mercedes-powered cars, it was Ferrari who occupied the third row of the grid taking fifth (Sebastian Vettel) and sixth (Charles Leclerc) respectively as Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen could only achieve seventh and Alexander Albon was eliminated in Q2.

Hamilton set the pace in the initial Q3 runs after both Mercedes and Racing Point drivers progressed through to the final qualifying stage on the C3 yellow side-walled medium compounds, which they will start the race on.

Bottas needed to cut a 0.4 second gap on the final flyers and although the Finn improved, Hamilton did the same and flew to score his 90th career pole position with a 1:13.433, with his team-mate 0.107 seconds off.

The Mercedes drivers were the only two that broke into the 1:13’s, as Stroll took third posting a 1:14.377.

Perez had his initial Q3 hot-lap deleted after exceeding track limits at the exit of turn four, but ended up fourth on his final flyer.

Vettel beat Ferrari team-mate Leclerc to fifth, with the Maranello-marque set to the be the first of the top ten runners runners to start the Grand Prix on the red-marked C4 softer rubber.

It was the first time in the 2020 campaign that both Ferrari’s made it through to the final qualifying stage.

Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen qualified seventh and 1.402 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s Hungarian GP qualifying pole time, after the Dutchman complained about the handling of his Honda-powered RB16 racer in the medium-speed corners.

McLaren Racing pairing Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz were eighth and ninth respectively, with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly completing the top ten.

Gasly, who missed all of FP1 yesterday due to an engine issue, complained of power problems in the initial qualifying segments, but did not post a time in Q3 after saying his Honda power-unit would not be able to last further in qualifying as he completed his final run in Q2.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo took 11th, unable to beat his best effort on the mediums after he put on the softs, but the Australian will have a free choice of rubber to choose from for the race.

Williams Racing’s George Russell was over-the-moon to make Q2 for the second week in a row and equaled his best qualifying result of 12th – the same place he qualified at last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix – in-front of Red Bull Racing’s Albon.

After complaining of the balance of his Honda-powered RB16 racer throughout the practice and qualifying sessions, Albon wound up 13th – 0.207 seconds adrift of Gasly’s benchmark time to beat in the second segment, and was furious at his team after encountering traffic in his final flying lap.

Like his Renault team-mate Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon attemped to run the medium rubber early in Q2 and although he improved on his best effort after switching to the softs, he will start 14th and in-front of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi.

In the first segment, Latifi also progressed to make it two Williams entries into the second qualifying stage for the first time since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix, as Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat failed to improve on their final flyers, which were characterised by major track evolution and a flurry of lap-time improvements meant all drivers went for a last effort.

Magnussen ended up 16th with Kvyat behind him and the second Haas of Romain Grosjean qualifying 18th.

The Alfa Romeo Racing duo of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen brought up the rear – with all four Ferrari-powered customer cars eliminated in Q1.

Giovinazzi had a lap-time deleted early in the first qualifying stage – which was bettered by Racing Point pairing Perez and Stroll – for exceeding track limits at turn four, the fast left-hand kink at the start of the middle sector.

You can see the full Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydij (Hungarian GP) 2020 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1047/hungary/qualifying.html

In FP3 it was Bottas pipping Mercedes team-mate Hamilton by 0.032 seconds with Racing Point’s Perez and Stroll taking third and fifth respectively and Ferrari’s Leclerc in fourth. You can catch up on the highlights at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZJ-9XT69c4

Catch up what happened in Hungarian GP FP1 and FP2 here:

#F1 #HungarianGP FP1: @LewisHamilton heads @ValtteriBottas in @MercedesAMGF1 1-2.

#F1 #HungarianGP FP2: @ScuderiaFerrari’s #Vettel quickest in rain-soaked session.

Read this weekend’s Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydij (Hungarian GP) 2020 Race Preview at the link: #F1 Aramco #HungarianGP 2020 Preview. #HungaryGP