Lewis Hamilton Leads a Mercedes 1-2 In Qualification at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton clinched pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix in the eleventh race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. This was the Briton’s 101st pole position and his eighth pole position at this race.

Valtteri Bottas was in second position, 0.315 seconds slower than Hamilton. Max Verstappen was in third position with a big gap of 0.421 seconds to Hamilton.

The qualifying session at the Hungaroring circuit took place under scorchingly hot conditions with air temperatures at 29 degree C and track temperatures at 60 degree C.

The three compounds for this race are from the middle range of the Pirelli tyres – the white-striped hard tyres (C2), the yellow-striped medium tyres (C3) and the red-striped soft tyres (C4).

Q1: Russell and Tsunoda Eliminated

Kimi Räikkönen went to the top of the time charts in the early exchanges with a lap time of 1m17.963s. Max Verstappen went to the top of the time charts on his first run with a 1m16.214s lap time. The Dutchman was 0.210 seconds faster than Hamilton.

Bottas, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris were behind the two title contenders in the early exchanges. The Farrari drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, slotted into fourth and seventh positions on their first run.

Sergio Pérez languished in ninth position and he was over a second slower than his team-mate Verstappen.

With two minutes to go all the drivers were on the track. Mick Schumacher was sat in the garage as his car was not repaired in time for qualification after he suffered a crash in the third free practice session.

Yuki Tsunoda and the two drivers from the Williams F1 and Uralkali Haas F1 teams were eliminated.

Q1 dropzone: Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell, Nicholas Latifi, Nikita Mazepin, Mick Schumaher

Q2: Sainz crashes out

The drivers from the top teams were on the medium compound tyres, the preferred tyre to start the race. Hamilton was ahead of Verstappen and Bottas on the first run.

Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel slotted into third and fourth positions on their soft compound tyre runs. Leclerc went second behind Hamilton on his first run.

But his team-mate Sainz crashed into the barriers at the final corner and the session was red-flagged. The session resumed with under six minutes to go, but the drivers hit the track with just three minutes of the session left.

Pérez got himself out of the elimination zone on the soft compound tyres. Verstappen also set his fastest time on the soft compound tyres. Vettel knocked out Ricciardo in the dying minutes of the session.

Q2 dropzone: Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, Kimi Räikkönen, Antonio Giovinazzi, Carlos Sainz

Q3: Hamilton takes pole position

The all-important twelve minutes of the final shootout on this hard to overtake track started with Verstappen and the Mercedes drivers hitting the track early.

Hamilton took provisional pole position ahead of Bottas and Verstappen with a lap time of 1m15.419s.The second flying lap did not see the drivers improve their positions.

Hamilton and Bottas locked out the front row with both the Red Bull Racing Honda drivers on the second row. Gasly qualified ahead of Norris in fifth position.

Top 10: Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel

Results of the 2021 Hungarian GP Qualification:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	01:16.424	01:16.553	01:15.419	19
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	01:16.569	01:16.702	01:15.734	18
3	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	01:16.214	01:15.650	01:15.840	17
4	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	01:17.233	01:16.443	01:16.421	16
5	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	01:16.874	01:16.394	01:16.483	15
6	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	01:17.081	01:16.385	01:16.489	17
7	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	01:17.084	01:16.574	01:16.496	17
8	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	01:17.367	01:16.766	01:16.653	15
9	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	01:17.123	01:16.541	01:16.715	15
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	01:17.105	01:16.794	01:16.750	15
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	01:17.664	01:16.871		13
12	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	01:17.038	01:16.893		12
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	01:17.553	01:17.564		15
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	01:17.776	01:17.583		12
15	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	01:16.649	DNF		5
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	01:17.919			8
17	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	01:17.944			8
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	01:18.036			8
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	RAF	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	01:18.922			9