Formula 1

LCH ON TOP OF THE WORLD TAKING POLE AND DENYING MAX FOR THE HUNGARIAN  GRAND PRIX AND, THE MCLAREN ROCKET SHIP OF LANDO NORRIS GRABBING P3!

Max Verstappen will start the Hungarian Grand Prix on the front row on Sunday after Lewis Hamilton pipped him to pole position by just 0.003 of a second as his Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Pérez ended the Saturday qualifying session in ninth place.

Verstappen  said: “I have been struggling the whole weekend to find a good balance, every session has been up and down. I thought my first lap in Q3 was quite good, but the second run no feeling. I think the update works, but we didn’t put everything together set-up wise.”

“We have not performed the way we should be performing all weekend, it has been really difficult to get the most out of the car. I was struggling with putting the balance together, front to rear. We tried a lot of different things in terms of set-up but it didn’t really work. When you are struggling in qualifying you can only try one or two things and then when you really push you fall out of the window again. My second lap in Q3 I tried to push a bit more and the car wasn’t there.

I think our upgrades worked but that didn’t really show. The balance I had in qualifying won’t necessarily be a bad thing for tomorrow. Everything in the race is a lot calmer and more stable, whereas in qualifying you really push it to the limit on the balance and can feel more issues. Our long run looks competitive so that is positive. It is still going to be tough to get in front but if we are better on tyres then I predict a good race. Nothing is lost, we have a good race car and it will be a good battle with them tomorrow.”

Lewis Hamilton
Pole position is an amazing feeling! I feel so grateful because the Team have worked so hard. We’ve been pushing so much over this time so to finally get pole position is great; it feels just like the first time. I didn’t expect that we’d be fighting for P1 coming here today. When I started my final lap, I gave it absolutely everything. There was nothing left in it.

There’s been plenty of ups and downs over the past 18 months. It’s been a roller-coaster ride, but none of us have lost faith. We’ve all just hauled together and stayed united. We’re focusing on trying to steer the car in the right direction. It has been tough, and will continue to be so at times, but I think this shows that we’re on the right track and we can do it if we keep pushing. I have to try and sleep tonight now! Tomorrow, we’ll bring our A-game as a Team. It’s going to be difficult to fight Max and Lando but let’s see what we can do.

Lando: “I’m disappointed, I guess,” he said. “If you’re within a tenth of pole, it feels like you should be on pole if you put the lap together.”

On a strong day for McLaren, following on from the British Grand Prix last time out where Norris and Oscar Piastri started second and third, the papaya team locked out the second row with Piastri lining up fourth.

But Norris admitted to making “too many mistakes” to be totally satisfied with his performance.