Spectacular Leclerc takes surprise Hungarian Grand Prix pole

Grand Prix of Hungary

Hungaroring Dates: 1-3 August Race start time: 15:00 BST on Sunday

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took a sensational, surprise pole position at the Grand Prix of Hungary ahead of McLaren’s title contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Leclerc surpassed Piastri by only 0.0226 seconds in the final stage of qualifying, which is nowhere near McLaren’s pace.

Norris was 0.015secs behind his team-mate, who was 16 points adrift in the championship.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll locked out the third row, with Mercedes’ George Russell coming in fourth place ahead of the two Aston Martins’ outstanding performances.

Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc’s teammate, will start 12th after failing to advance past the second knockout session.

Max Verstappen from Red Bull was struggling all weekend, trailing only Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

Leclerc was skeptical when Bryan Bozzi, his engineer, told him he was in command. “What”? he responded. “Mamma mia”.

He continued, “I have no words; it is probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had because I did not expect that.”

“Today I can’t understand anything in F1. The entire process involved in qualifying. And I don’t mean that exaggeration when I say that.

“We had to work hard to get to Q2 and it was difficult to get to Q3. I knew I had to do a clean lap to target third in Q3, but things changed a little bit, and it ended up in pole position.

Piastri remarked, “The wind turned the circuit in two places, from Q2 to Q3, and that.” In those circumstances, it is challenging to judge. We couldn’t move that quickly, which surprised me.

“Charles has been quick all weekend, and we were expecting a lot more from him in final practice this morning.” He did a good job, even though I didn’t anticipate being second to a Ferrari this weekend.

Hamilton struggled in qualifying even though he was only 0.01 seconds away from placing in the top 10, despite Leclerc’s outstanding performance.

He said, “I’m just useless.” I was a terrible driver.

Aston Martin locked out the back row of the Belgian grid just a week ago, causing the car’s high drag to be difficult to drive in Spa-Francorchamps’ long, high-speed sections.

The Hungaroring’s tight, twisty nature significantly increased its chances of success, and recent car upgrades have also improved the team.

Both drivers’ overall best performance of the season came just over 0.01 seconds off pole.

Alonso remarked, “Seven days ago, we felt competitive and with a very different layout than Spa. We are now in the fifth and sixth rows after the grid’s final row.

“Sounds a significant change, and we need to understand why, learn how to use the car here, and apply these lessons to the upcoming grand prix.”

Verstappen remarked, “We tried a lot as a team, but nothing, sadly, really helped our balance.”