Hungarian GP Qualifying: Leclerc ambushes McLarens, Verstappen nowhere!
F1 NewsSaturday, 02 August 2025 at 19:07
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc stunned McLaren and snatched pole position for the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix in the dying moments by the slightest of margins.
Throughout the weekend, Leclerc was the only driver to get close to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as the McLaren pair were expected to fight each other for pole.
And that was the case as Piastri was fastest in Q1 while Norris took over in Q2 only for the Australian to take provisional pole in Q3.
But then the track temperatures dropped and it seemed the Papaya cars fell out of their operating window while the #16 Ferrari came into its element and as such Leclerc took pole by 0.026s from Piastri who was second while Norris was third.
It was a day of contrasting fortunes for Ferrari as their second driver, seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2, 12 fastest only on a track where he usually excels.
George Russell also made use of cooler conditions and was fourth fastest in the Mercedes while rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli was down in 15th.
Then came the Aston Martins, probably the other surprise of the session as both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were in the thick of it throughout qualifying and were fifth and sixth respectively.
Gabriel Bortoleto was an excellent seventh in the Sauber, ahead of reigning F1 champion, Max Verstappen, who was only good for eighth.
Verstappen's qualifying outcome summed up a miserable weekend so far in Budapest as all his heroics could not drag the lame RB21 higher than where he finished on a day when the slightest of margins made a huge difference.
Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar delivered a strong session for Racing Bulls qualifying ninth and tenth respectively.
What the top three said
After bagging his 27th F1 career pole, Leclerc insisted he was surprised with the outcome of his qualifying in Budapest; he said: "Today, I don’t understand anything in Formula 1.
“Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it’s not exaggerating. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3.
"Q3, the conditions changed a little bit. Everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third. At the end of the day, it’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that.
"I could definitely feel it (the grip change) a lot," the Monegasque went on, "and I was also on the lower side of the downforce, so when the rain started in Q2, I was just hoping that it wouldn’t stay there. It didn’t, the conditions changed which made everything very tricky, and at the end, we are on pole position.
“Honestly, I have no words. It’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had. It’s the most unexpected, for sure," he insisted.
As for Sunday's race, Leclerc continued: "The start and Turn 1 will be key. I have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I’ll do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place.
"If we manage to do that, that should make our life easier for the rest of the race," he concluded.
Second-placed Piastri admitted his shock being beaten by a Ferrari; he commented: "I think the wind changed a lot.
"It always sounds so pathetic blaming things on the wind. It did a 180 from Q2 to Q3 and meant a lot of the corners felt completely different.
"It was difficult to judge in those conditions and maybe not the best execution. I was surprised we couldn't go quicker than that.
"Second is still a decent spot to start so we'll see what we can do tomorrow," he insisted. "Charles has been quick all weekend and this morning he was closer than we expected.
"Things just changed a little bit. He did a very good job and well done to him. I wasn't expecting to be second to a Ferrari this weekend.
"It's going to be a fun race tomorrow with a bit more involved," the Australian concluded.
As for Norris, he blamed the change in the conditions, he said: "From how our form is, then of course (it's disappointing), but I think Charles did a good job on the last lap.
"He probably risked a little bit more in these conditions. The wind changed a lot and it really seemed to punish us in a bigger way it seems.
"Not too many complaints. We thought we both did some good laps at the end, and we were just slow. So, nothing to complain of, but Charles did a good job.
“It’s a long lap with many corners. It’s tricky, but in Q2, we showed how quick we can go, and our advantage. But as soon as the wind changed, everything went away and the last sector became even trickier again," he lamented.
Q1: Yuki Tsunoda misses out!
Temperature continued to increase between the final practice session and qualifying which started with track temperatures a scorching 52 degrees Celsius while ambient temperatures rose to 30 degrees.
However, the skies had some clouds with darker ones appearing in the distance, and while it was dark from some angles, there was a 20% chance of rain as drivers started jumping into their cars.
With 16 minutes on the clock, Williams sent Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon out on track to start their qualifying sessions. Verstappen and Tsunoda followed with both McLarens and others following suit.
Albon posted the first lap time and Sainz went second fastest as Verstappen started his first lap in Q1 with Norris in his wake.
Verstappen went fastest but then Norris dropped him to second only for Piastri to drop them both and go to the top as Tsunoda was fourth and Ocon in fifth.
Then came Hamilton posted the third fastest time while Leclerc was only good for sixth as Alonso took fourth.
The track kept improving and as the first round of laps was done, the order was: Piastri - Russell - Antonelli - Norris - Hamilton - Alonso - Hadjar - Stroll - Leclerc - Franco Colapinto - Nico Hulkenberg - Bortoleto - Verstappen - Lawson - Albon.
With less than six minutes remaining from Q1, the second round of laps was on, Alonso leading the way in his Aston Martin with Stroll following as others followed and Esteban Ocon reporting he had a screw stuck into his front right tyre. Mercedes did not send their drivers out.
In the end, Piastri posted a 1:15.211 to lead the way into Q2 with Alonso 0.070s behind him in second as Hadjar was third.
The remaining top 15 drivers were: Norris - Leclerc - Bortoleto - Russell - Sainz - Stroll - Hamilton - Verstappen - Bearman - Antonello - Lawson - Colapinto.
As for those eliminated, Tsunoda was the first to miss out, to Colapinto by a painful 0.004s and was 16th fastest with Pierre Gasly behind him in 17th.
Ocon was 18th fastest in the Sauber ahead of Hulkenberg who was 19th with Albon down in 20th.
Q2: Antonelli out! Hamilton out!
The start of Q2 was delayed as marshals cleared the track from gravel at Turn 12 after several drivers dipped their wheels in the gravel trap.
Chance of rain may have been 20% at the start of the session, but as Q2 began, the clouds became darker and umbrellas were out as drivers raced out on track to try and set a lap time before it became more wet as drops of rain were reported at Turns 1 and 5.
Also worth noting that track temperature dropped from 52 at the start of Q1 to 40 degrees.
Antonelli went first and posted the first lap time but Russell went even faster as Stroll followed and we faster than the Mercedes cars only for Alonso to go even faster than his teammate.
But then came Norris topping the timing screens with Piastri slotting behind him in second. Colapinto had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 9 after a mistake.
With the first runs out of the way, the top ten were: Norris - Piastri - Alonso - Stroll - Hadjar - Bearman - Russell - Verstappen - Lawson - Leclerc.
In the drop zone: Hamilton - Sainz - Bortoleto - Antonelli - Colapinto.
The second runs began in the final six minutes of Q2 with Stroll the first driver to start his second attempt to book a place in Q3.
In the end, Q2 was a dry affair and it was Norris who was fastest with a 1:14.890, 0.051s ahead of Piastri in second as Stroll was third fastest.
The rest of the top ten were: Russell - Alonso - Leclerc - Hadjar - Verstappen - Lawson - Bortoleto.
Bearman was the first to miss out on Q3 and was 11th fastest, beaten by Bortoleto by 0.007s and was 0.008s clear of Hamilton... Yes Hamilton was 12th in the Ferrari.
Sainz was 13th fastest in the Williams ahead of Colapinto who was 14th as Antonelli was down in 15th having lost his best lap time for exceeding track limits.
Q3: McLaren do not deliver when it matters
Stroll and Alonso led the remaining ten cars out on track as the green light at the end of the pitlane was illuminated signaling the final qualifying shootout on Saturday afternoon at the Hungaroring as the rain did not intensify and the track remained dry despite a few drops here and there.
Stroll posted the first banker lap and went to the top as Alonso went even faster as Norris followed with Piastri just behind him.
Norris went to the top but then Piastri betters him and takes provisional pole.
Russell then posted the third fastest time as Verstappen was only good for fifth. Stroll lost his lap time for exceeding track limits.
Verstappen radioed that he has not grip and felt he was driving on ice.
With less than five minutes remaining from Q3, Stroll kicked off the final round of laps not taking any risks since he had no lap time on the board. Alonso followed him.
Stroll went third fastest but Alonso posted the second fastest time as the McLarens were on their outlaps. Alonso radioed: "It's a good lap!"
Then Leclerc started his second lap and popped up on the top as Norris started his final Q3 lap with Piastri following suit.
But both McLaren could not improve and Piastri was second with Norris third as Leclerc's time, a 1:15.372 stood firm.
Russell was fourth fastest ahead of the Aston Martin duo, Alonso and Stroll who were fifth and sixth respectively as a superb Bortoleto was seventh ahead of Verstappen in eighth.
Lawson and Hadjar were ninth and tenth respectively.
Hungarian GP Qualifying Provisional Classification
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