Hungarian GP Qualifying: Norris leads McLaren lockout Verstappen chases
F1 NewsSaturday, 20 July 2024 at 17:28
Lando Norris claimed pole position for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, as McLaren locked up the front row with Oscar Piastri second fastest, with Max Verstappen having to settle for third.
It was quite an entertaining Formula 1 qualifying session that was constantly under the threat of rain that eventually did not hit hard enough to cause any drama, which meant, apart from a brief moment in Q1 where DRS was not allowed for a damp track, it was a dry session.
In the end, it was as close as it could be at the top as Norris took his third career pole position and with Piastri second fastest, the pair achieved McLaren's first front-row lockout in 12 years!
It was a disappointing qualifying for Red Bull Racing who had brought a heavily upgraded RB20 for Verstappen this weekend, as Sergio Perez - who crashed out in Q1 yet again - drove the older spec car.
But even the Dutchman could not beat McLaren with his revised car and fell painfully short of pole, probably a wiggle in the final corner on his second Q3 lap to blame, not to mention he could not benefit from a tow as his teammate was out of commission.
In the end, Verstappen did not go for another run after the Red Flag caused by Yuki Tsunoda's crash was removed, accepting that there could be no more improvement, and while others attempted a final run, the order was not affected, as only Daniel Ricciardo improved past his teammate.
With Red Bull apparently dialling their car more towards race pace, as team boss Christian Horner noted in a tv interview just after qualifying, we can expect a nice race, not to mention a tense battle into Turn 1 as Verstappen will definitely attempt to crash McLaren's party.
The top three were within less than half a tenth in the end, and in a league of their own, as the fourth fastest, Carlos Sainz led the class B brigade over four-tenths off the pace.
Sainz was the better Ferrari driver, as Charles Leclerc had a scruffy weekend so far, and qualified sixth with Lewis Hamilton - the only Mercedes driver in Q3 - splitting the Red Cars, as George Russell dropped out of Q1 in mixed conditions.
It was a reality check for Mercedes following the highs of Austria and Silverstone, as their form was nowhere near what they delivered one race ago.
Aston Martin brought both cars into the top ten, Fernando Alonso leading Lance Stroll (seventh and eighth respectively) while VCARB also had two car in Q3.
Norris: As long as we stay where we are we'll be happy
"Very, very happy," Norris trumpeted after taking his second pole position in the 2024 F1 season. "Not an easy qualifying, different conditions like that, but always ending up on top is the best part of it all, especially for the team, a one-two is even better, so congrats to the team.
"We have already got confidence, so it's not like we need a lot more of it or we are searching for it. We have come into this weekend off the back of the last few happy and confident we can do a good job and we have a good car to fight for pole, which is what we did today.
"We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us. Two cars at the front row, we can control it from there, so as long as we stay where we are we'll be happy," he concluded.
Piastri added: “It’s the first one-two in qualifying for McLaren for a very long time, so I’m very happy. Of course when I miss out by two hundredths you think of all the little things you can do a bit better but it’s an amazing result for the team.
“We had a bit of a tricky day on my side yesterday so it was nice to bounce back this morning. This afternoon in qualy wasn’t easy, there was a lot of decisions on the fly and to end up with both cars on the front row was an amazing result.
“The second lap was honestly pretty good. I’ve already seen where I was a little bit slower and you think I could have done this or that a little better. It’s still a good lap and I’m happy with my day’s work.
"It’s a long run down to Turn One so it’s everything to play for," the Australian said of the race on Sunday. "A lot of points are on the table. Of course I want to get into the lead, but we have both cars on the front row and we have a big task ahead of us trying to win this championship as a team.
"We’ll be smart. We’ve got a very quick car that’s been working extremely well this weekend. We want to keep it one-two," Piastri concluded.
A clearly frustrated Verstappen commented: "I tried. The whole weekend we have been a little bit behind and that was also the case in qualifying. I tried to make it as close as possible but unfortunately just not enough. A bit difficult to pinpoint why that is.
"I would have liked a bit more grip but it's not there at the moment. P3 is still very close but I just hope that tomorrow the car is good in the race and at least we can follow them and see what we can do there," he pointed out.
As for the race on Sunday, Verstappen said: "Of course, I love competition but I would love to be on top of the competition and at the moment I feel like we are chasing and have a few more difficult weekends. I don't back out of a fight, but just a tricky situation I guess."
Q1: Perez crashes again, Russell out as well!
Just to make qualifying more fun, the weather delivered a curve ball for the teams and drivers, as rain fell in the buildup to qualifying, and while it was not heavy, it was enough to dampen the track and change the grip conditions not to mention lower track temperatures which registered 30 degrees Celsius as Q1 was given the go ahead.
Despite slippery conditions, slick tyres were the order of the day for all teams as cars emerged from their pit boxes and made their way out on track.
And indeed, Valtteri Bottas soon gave the confirmation saying over the team radio: "Track is ok for slicks."
Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver to set a lap, and soon Piastri was warned that he had time for one lap before a potential return of rain.
The Zhou Guanyu reported that the rain was increasing as drivers scrambled to put a lap on the board before conditions worsened.
With 12 minutes remaining, Logan Sargeant caused a Yellow Flag as he went off track at Turn 1 after a heavy lock up and ended up hitting the wall, but made his way back to the pits with potential damage.
With less than ten minutes remaining, the order was: Hamilton - Sainz - Verstappen - Piastri - Alonso - Norris - Sargeant - Perez - Leclerc - Esteban Ocon - Alex Albon - Pierre Gasly - Tsunoda - Russell - Bottas.
But then with less than seven minutes on the clock, the Red Flag was out and it was Perez who lost control of his car coming out of Turn 8 and oversteered ending up in the wall. A big hit and some severe damage for the #11 RB20.
A shame as the Mexican has been doing so well up until that moment.
The session was restarted with 6 minutes and 45 seconds on the clock and drivers at risk set out trying to improve their lap times, as despite some increase in rain, slicks were still the tyres of choice.
The drivers going for another lap would have to do so without DRS as race control deemed the conditions low grip and banned the DRS which was worth around four tenths around the Hungaroring.
Russell in the Mercedes agreed with race control and reporting the track was very damp, but then improved his time despite not using the DRS.
That meant other drivers joined the party to avoid being eliminated as the track became busy in the final moments of Q1.
But the track kept improving, driver finding time in the middle sector to go faster despite no DRS allowed, and shuffled the order, as Ricciardo set the fastest time, a 1:17.050, 0.037s faster than Hamilton in second with Verstappen third fastest having set an identical time to the Mercedes driver.
Perez was the first driver to drop out of Q1 as the time he set before he crashed was good for 16th place and was 0.082s faster than Russell in 17th.
Russell's time, despite improving, was not enough as he did not do another lap, when the track was at its best, and missed out on Q2.
"It's on me," Russell told his team, but then he told his team they should've put more fuel in the car to allow him to do another lap as the track was getting "better and better".
Zhou was down in 18th ahead of Esteban Ocon in 19th as Pierre Gasly was 2oth.
Q2: Hamilton makes Q3 by the skin of his teeth
Sainz was the first driver out on track in Q2 and went on to post the first lap time with Hamilton following suit and Verstappen as well.
Hamilton dropped Sainz to second, but then Verstappen puts in a monster lap to go over seven tenths faster than the Briton to go fastest.
Then Piastri went second fastest as Norris started his lap which was only good for fourth with Alonso slotting in third. But then Sainz improves to third after a second run on new Softs.
With the first run out of the way, the order was: Verstappen - Piastri - Sainz - Alonso - Norris - Leclerc - Stroll - Hamilton - Magnussen - Tsunoda.
In the drop zone were: Bottas - Sargeant - Albon - Hulkenberg - Ricciardo (did not set a banker lap)
With four minutes remaining, the second round of laps to decide who made it into the top ten shootout was underway and the track got really busy with all 15 cars out on track.
In the end, Norris improve to go fastest, 0.230s faster than Verstappen in second, while Piastri was third fastest.
Hamilton was under pressure but just made it into Q3 as driver behind him failed to improve, and made the cut tenth fastest, and beating Hulkenberg by 0.010s.
As a result the German driver will line up 11th on the race grid on Sunday and was 0.067s faster than Bottas in the Sauber, 12th fastest.
Albon was 0.889s off the pace in 13th and 0.114s faster than his teammate, Sargeant who was 14th faster and furious about traffic.
"Traffic is a joke! Honestly! No-one moves!" the under pressure American driver vented.
Magnussen was 15th fastest in the second Haas.
Q3: Verstappen calls it a day
Q3 started with a weather update warning that rain might be raining in the second half of ten minute shootout, which makes a decent banker lap even more important.
Verstappen was the first driver to start a flying lap and goes fastest as Piastri followed and was second fastest with Leclerc going third.
But Norris puts in a great lap over three tenths faster than Verstappen and puts his McLaren on provisional pole.
The first run yielded the following order: Norris - Verstappen - Piastri - Leclerc - Hamilton - Alonso - Sainz - Stroll - Tsunoda - Ricciardo.
And just on time, the rain arrived but lightly, and drivers rushed out on track for another run before the track got too wet for improved lap times.
Piastri was the first driver to start the second and final lap of Q3, as Aston Martin informed Alonso about light rain in the pitlane.
But the times were improving and Piastri improved to second, then Sainz went fourth as Verstappen goes only third fastest.
But then Tsunoda brought out the Red Flag after crashing at Turn 5, having gone wide and over the kerbs his car jumping and ending up into the barriers. Two minutes and 13 second remained on the clock.
The session was restarted and drivers lined up at the exit of the pitlane with Norris leading Hamilton and Piastri, but Verstappen jumped out of his car ending his qualifying. Alonso also was out of his car as well.
In the meantime, the marshals went on trying to fix the barriers were Tsunoda crashed, and McLaren informed Norris that rain will hit soon.
The drivers set out on track after the green light but Norris' provisional pole remained unchallenged and became his third F1 pole as McLaren locked up the front row.
Norris' pole time was a 1:15.227, only 0.022s faster than Piastri in second while Verstappen was 0.046s off the pace in third. Very close.
Sainz was fourth fastest in the Ferrari, over four tenths off the pace and 0.158s ahead of Hamilton who was fifth in the Mercedes.
Leclerc was 0.678s away from pole, sixth fastest in the second Ferrari and 0.138s ahead of Alonso in seventh.
Stroll was eighth fastest in the second Aston Martin, over one second off pole and 0.203s faster than Ricciardo in ninth, with Tsunoda rounding off the top ten.
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