Lewis Hamilton grabs pole and more winners and losers from qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Hamilton was one of the big winners from qualifying on Saturday at the Hungaroring

In recent weeks, qualifying sessions have provided some thrills for Formula 1 fans.

Saturday in Budapest was no different.

Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix is in the books, and for just the second time this year a non-Red Bull car will be at the front of the grid. Lewis Hamilton secured his first pole position of the season with a massive lap at the end of Q3, putting himself to the front and just ahead of Max Verstappen.

McLaren had another strong Saturday, and locked out the second row.

Did the new qualifying rules play a role? Perhaps, but if the data backs up such a theory, then expect to see more of the “Alternative Tyre Allocation” format in races to come.

Until then, however here are the winners and losers from qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Winner: Lewis Hamilton

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For just the second time this season, a non-Red Bull car will be on pole for the Grand Prix.

After Charles Leclerc captured pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen on Saturday, capturing his first pole of the 2023 F1 season. Hamilton grabbed pole thanks to a thunderous final lap at the Hungaroring, surprising many.

Including the seven-time world champion himself.

“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,” said Hamilton after qualifying. “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.”

Whether he can turn this pole position into his first win of the 2023 season remains to be seen, but Hamilton has certainly put himself in position to do just that.

Losers: Mercedes

However, not everything went the way of the Silver Arrows on Saturday. While Hamilton is starting at the front of the field, teammate George Russell is starting at the back, having failed to advance out of Q1.

A big part of that failure? Getting caught up in traffic at the end of the first qualifying session. That put Russell in a difficult spot, and he could not post the lap he needed to advance.

Following qualifying, both Team Principal Toto Wolff and Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin outlined just where the team went wrong.

“We made a mistake with George. We should have put him in a much better position on track and we’ve apologised to him for that,” said Wolff in the team’s post-qualifying report. “There’s a gentleman’s agreement that you don’t overtake one another as time is running out. He had a number of cars move ahead of him though and that obviously screwed up his last lap.”

“On the other hand, we let George down with how we handled his session. It wasn’t good enough and we’ll review and see how we can improve,” added Shovlin. “It’s obviously very disappointing when we see the promise of the car and that he didn’t get the opportunity to get a clean run in. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Winners: McLaren

Coming into the Hungarian Grand Prix, the biggest question facing McLaren was whether they had figured out slow-speed corners. While the team was coming off their best result of the 2023 season — which saw Lando Norris finish in P2 at Silverstone with Oscar Piastri in P4, after both qualified in the top three for the British Grand Prix — there were concerns about how the MCL60 would fare at the Hungaroring.

Perhaps those questions have been answered.

Norris notched his second-straight top three on a Saturday, qualifying third, while Piastri will start beside him in the second row, having qualified fourth.

Team Principal Andrea Stella pointed out that the performance backs up how they have improved the MCL60.

“A positive day for McLaren, with Lando in P3 and Oscar P4 at the end of what was an interesting qualifying session with the new ATA format. Both drivers drove very well in tricky conditions, due to a slippery and windy track, and were able to capitalise on the hard work of the team, here at the track and back at the MTC,” said Stella in the team’s post-qualifying report. “The Hungaroring, with some more low-speed sections and high temperatures, is different to the previous two circuits, and this performance looks like confirmation of the step forward we have made. Now, focus is on being as prepared as possible for the race tomorrow.”

Winner: Nico Hülkenberg

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Another qualifying Saturday, another strong performance from Haas and Nico Hülkenberg.

For the sixth time this season, Hülkenberg will start inside the top ten, having advanced to another Q3 and finishing in P10.

“Happy! All laps were clean and we extracted everything we could out of it. In Q3, unfortunately we were only tenth as we didn’t have any more pace,” said Hülkenberg after qualifying. “I was a bit concerned in Q1 with the hard tire going into qualifying, I wasn’t sure what to expect there, but we managed to survive that. Q2 on the medium was pretty good, and then in Q3 there just wasn’t enough pace, but every Q3 for us is positive.”

However, qualifying has not been the problem for Haas this year, as for the most part their one-lap pace has been strong. It is their race pace which ahs been lacking, and despite Hülkenberg’s strong effort Saturday, it might not be enough to see the team through to points on Sunday.

“It was a good FP3 – we ran all our test program with both cars without issues. In qualifying, it was a good result for Nico. Obviously, Kevin is not so happy with his result, but we need to work on him to get him up there as well, it’s possible,” added Team Principal Guenther Steiner. “Nico got the best out of the car, and it’s a tough crowd. In Formula 1 these days, anything can happen, it’s all over the place but in a good way. In that regard, you never know what will happen tomorrow. We’ll get ready knowing our weakness is the long runs, but it’s another day, and another fight.”

Losers: Alpine

So just what is happening at Alpine right now?

On a week that saw former F1 CEO Laurent Rossi moved to a different position with the organization, the team struggled in qualifying on Saturday at the Hungaroring. Both drivers failed to reach Q3 as they were both eliminated in Q2. Pierre Gasly finished 15th, while Esteban Ocon will start the race in 12th.

“In plain terms, we were simply not fast enough today,” said Gasly after qualifying.

Making matters worse, Alpine faces an uphill climb to get into the points on Sunday. The Hungaroring is not known for overtaking — leading in part to its moniker “Monaco without the walls” — and that could see Gasly and Ocon struggle to make something happen on Sunday.

“We are all disappointed to not get a car into Q3. After Practice, we knew it was going to be a challenge to progress through Q1 and Q2 with both drivers reporting similar feedback on the hard and medium tyres, which were mandated for Q1 and Q2,” said Team Principal Oscar Szafnauer. “We had confidence on the soft tyres, which, in the end, we were not able to demonstrate after not reaching Q3. The weekend is far from over and we will give it our all to turn around our compromised starting positions and we will do our best to come away with points on Sunday afternoon.”

Winners: Alfa Romeo

Some of us saw this coming.

The signs were there for a strong weekend from Alfa Romeo on Friday, when both Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas posted the two best times of the day among drivers on the medium compound. Given the new qualifying rules in effect for the Hungarian Grand Prix, that opened the door for Alfa Romeo, provided they could advance out of Q1, to have a strong Saturday.

Consider that job done. Bottas advanced to Q3 and will start seventh, while Zhou joined him in Q3 and finished fifth, for the best starting position of his F1 career.

“We are very happy about today’s result, which is a good reward for the work done by our team, both trackside and back home in Hinwil, and by our drivers,” said Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi. “Of course, we are fully aware that this is only Qualifying, although on a track like this one, starting positions are important looking into Sunday.”

“I am really proud of the whole team today, and positively surprised about how good our performances have been: we saw that we had realistic chances to get into the top ten, but fifth and seventh went even beyond our expectations,” said Bottas after qualifying. “We have been strong throughout the whole qualifying session, with all the compounds, and managed to extract the full potential from our cars: the track layout seems to suit us and allowed us to get the most out of our package.”

As for Guanyu, he enters Sunday in the best position of his F1 career, and is extremely positive heading into the Grand Prix itself.

“Overall, I would say this track layout suits our car well, which gives us great motivation ahead of tomorrow’s race. The team did an amazing job, and I am glad we got both cars into the top ten: we were not happy with the performance we extracted from the new package after Silverstone, but we all worked hard in order to further optimise it, and these results prove it,” added Zhou in the team’s post-qualifying report. “We were already looking quite strong yesterday, and after having further analysed the data overnight, we found that extra push that allowed us to get through Q2 and Q3. Now, all of our focus will go into keeping up with this performance tomorrow, when it matters: hopefully, we’ll be able to end the weekend as we started it, and add new points to our tally.”

Loser: Yuki Tsunoda

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After Friday, it seemed the story at AlphaTauri was Advantage: Tsunoda.

Now that might have shifted to Advantage: Daniel Ricciardo.

While Ricciardo managed to advance out of Q1 and into Q2, and will start the Grand Prix in 13th, Tsunoda failed to advance out of Q1, and will start the race at the back of the field, in 17th.

“Today was difficult,” summed up Tsunoda. “Being knocked out of Q1 isn’t great; it’s tough and I’m disappointed. I couldn’t improve and missed out on Q2, not finishing in the position I wanted to, and it’s a shame.”

The pace was there, and I feel we have made a step forward with the new rear wing, I just couldn’t put it together and maximise my performance,” added Tsunoda. “It’s good learning for the future, but I’m very frustrated I lost the opportunity to maximise my pace. The different tyre allocation we had for qualifying this week was fun yet challenging, because it made the practice sessions more difficult, but it doesn’t affect the race tomorrow.”

Still, Tsunoda is hoping to get more out of the AT04 on Sunday. “From what we saw in practice, the race pace seems ok, so hopefully I can maximise on that and gain as many positions as possible,” added the AlphaTauri driver.

With so many eyes on Tsunoda, Ricciardo, and Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez at the moment, every event is going to be scrutinized and, perhaps, over-analyzed. On this afternoon, at least, the advantage goes to Ricciardo.

Incomplete: Red Bull

As for Pérez, Saturday night have been one of the biggest days of his F1 career.

He might have done enough to stave off the boo birds, at least for one night.

Pérez advanced to Q3 for the first time since the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May, which is a big step in the right direction. However, he did not make the most of his chance in Q3, and will start the Grand Prix in ninth position.

“Today was such a tight battle that was dominated by the compounds and the new tyre format. You don’t get many learnings on the tyres so we don’t have too much information from them for this weekend,” said Pérez in the team’s post-qualifying report. “In Q3, I had a poor sector one on the last lap which set us back, however, we have had a solid day and are focusing all our efforts on tomorrow.”

Pérez is eying yet another charge to the front on Sunday.

“I believe we can be competitive and aim to finish on the podium as we have a good race car and a strong race pace,” added the driver. “The track here is harder to overtake on but I am confident we will have a good performance: everything is to play for on race day.”

Team Principal Christian Horner paid tribute to his driver in the team’s post-qualifying report.

“Great to see Checo in Q3 although I know he won’t be happy with P9 but it’s been a weird grid with a lot of movement,” said Horner. “He will race well tomorrow though, we just need to ensure we give him the right strategy.”

Perhaps of more concern for Red Bull at the moment is the face that Max Verstappen has not seemed comfortable yet with the RB19 in Hungary. He was fighting the car a bit during qualifying, and while Hamilton’s big lap was certainly worthy of the pole, Verstappen seemed a bit frustrated after qualifying.

“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,” said Verstappen. “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.”

However, Verstappen thinks Sunday could be better than Saturday.

“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,” added Verstappen. “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.”

We will see if Verstappen, Pérez, and Red Bull can finish the job on Sunday, making history in the process.