Hungarian GP Qualifying: Hamilton stuns Verstappen to pole.

Hamilton Hungarian GP Pole – Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton left his final flying lap late to stun Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a very narrow 0.003 seconds to claim his 104^th-career pole position in a thrilling qualifying session at the Hungarian GP in Formula 1’s trial debut of the Alternate Tyre Allocation format as McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the top three.

Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport Formula 1 Team, F1 W14, celebrating after taking his 104th-career pole position in Qualifying, Formula 1 Qatar Airways Hungarian Grand Prix 2023, Hungaroring, Mogyorod, Budapest, Hugnary. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Hamilton Hungarian GP Pole, 2023 Hungarian GP Qualifying, F1 Hungarian GP Qualifying, Hungarian GP Qualifying Results, Hamilton Hungarian GP Qualifying. — Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport Formula 1 Team, F1 W14, celebrating after taking his 104th-career pole position in Qualifying, Formula 1 Qatar Airways Hungarian Grand Prix 2023, Hungaroring, Mogyorod, Budapest, Hungary. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Hamilton Hungarian GP Pole, 2023 Hungarian GP Qualifying, F1 Hungarian GP Qualifying, Hungarian GP Qualifying Results, Hamilton Hungarian GP Qualifying.

In Q3, Verstappen held provisional pole in the initial flyers, posting a 1:16.612, scoring purple sectors one and three and was 0.126 seconds clear of Hamilton with Norris a further 0.292 seconds adrift of the Dutchman in third.

Verstappen was unable to improve on his final flying lap by 0.020 seconds as Hamilton left his hot-lap late to clinch pole position posting a 1:16.609 to demote the Red Bull driver to second as Norris rounded out the top three.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri starts on the second row alongside team-mate Norris taking fourth.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu had his initial hot-lap invalidated, but bounced back to grab fifth and ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who was sixth.

The other Alfa C43 entry of Valtteri Bottas placed seventh and in-front of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who took eighth.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez wound up in a disappointing ninth as Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Norris, Ferrari’s Carlos Sanz was knocked out by a very narrow 0.002 seconds after a late improvement from team-mate Leclerc and starts 11^th on the grid.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon placed 12^th and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo who was 13^th.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly qualified in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Zhou, Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon was the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees in 16^th and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who took 17^th and Mercedes’ George Russell who was the shock driver knocked out.

Russell showing his frustration over the radio: “Don’t tell me we’re out? *****. Guys, all that traffic in sector three.”

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant brought up the rear of the grid.

You can see the full Formula 1 Qatar Airways Hungarian Grand Prix 2023 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1215/hungary/qualifying.html

2023 Hungarian GP – The Top Three

Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport Formula 1 Team, F1 W14, Qualifying, Formula 1 Qatar Airways Hungarian Grand Prix 2023, Hungaroring, Mogyorod, Budapest, Hungary. Image credit to Francois Nel/Getty Images. Hamilton Hungarian GP Pole, 2023 Hungarian GP Qualifying, F1 Hungarian GP Qualifying, Hungarian GP Qualifying Results, Hamilton Hungarian GP Qualifying.

2023 Hungarian GP Pole Position – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W14, 1:16.609:

“It’s been a crazy year and a half; I’ve lost my voice from shouting in the car! The team have worked so hard, we’ve been pushing so hard to get this pole. I didn’t expect to be fighting for pole, that last run I gave it everything.”

2^nd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing – Honda-RBPT, RB19, +0.003:

“I’ve been struggling the whole weekend to find a good balance, I had a really difficult Q1, Q2 to attack the corners. We are still second but I think we should be ahead with the car we have, but this weekend we haven’t been on it.”

3^rd Place – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL60, +0.085:

“I’m disappointed I guess, if you are doing within a tenth of pole, it feels like you could be on pole if you put the lap together. As a driver I’m not the happiest, I made too many mistakes.”

In the earlier Free Practice Three session, it was Mercedes’ Hamilton topping the time-sheets ahead of Red Bull pairing Verstappen and Perez who were second and third respectively whilst Haas F1 Team’s Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Norris rounded out the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Qatar Airways Hungarian Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1215/hungary/practice-3.html

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