McLaren's 2025 world champion produced a qualifying lap for the ages to take the 17th pole of his career beating a rejuvenated Ferrari team that had seemed fastest all weekend. As others in the final part of Q3 struggled to go any quicker, including a spinning Max Verstappen and another broken down Mercedes of George Russell, Norris saved his best until last completing his final tour in a time of 1m 17.207s.
Before qualifying, the weekend had begun with tension aplenty in the paddock, as we arrived in Hungary for the final race weekend of the season before the summer break. There are a number of protagonists in the pit lane in need of a good result or two. Ferrari would like to show that they are in with a chance of winning more than just the occasional grand prix. Aston Martin have brought what many have referred to as a "B-spec" car with as many as 16 upgrades, all of which they will need to perform if they are going to make their way up the grid. And of course, George Russell needs to stop the rot against his teammate and show that he is indeed up to fight for the world championship.
Before qualifying got underway, Free Practice 1 (FP1) gave the development drivers of many teams a chance to show what they are made of. Under FIA sporting regulations, F1 constructors are mandated to field a rookie driver in four FP1 sessions per season (two per individual car). For Mercedes this meant that championship leader Kimi Antonelli had to sit out while Frederik Vesti got some time behind the wheel. And while Vesti is no slouch, the knock-on effect was that preparation time for Antonelli was vastly reduced giving Ferrari and Red Bull a leg up on the competition. And so it proved as Leclerc took P1 from Verstappen and Hamilton.
In Free Practice 2 (FP2), things did not get much better for Mercedes as Antonelli struggled with tyre preparation throughout, managing only to achieve thirteenth fastest. At the front Hamilton set the fastest time from Leclerc, giving the Tifosi some real belief that this could be their weekend. The other stand out was Liam Lawson who finished seventh.
Throughout the practice sessions divers had to be aware of the wind direction, affecting car stability into braking points around the circuit, however the main concern for putting together a strong single lap was the decision over where to use the grip of the soft tyre. The tyre did not appear to have the ability to last all the way round a full lap, with many drivers running wider than they would have hoped for on the final two corners as their tyres screamed "no more". The cause of which was the tyres overheating while being pushed to the limit in the preceding 12 corners.
In Free Practice 3 (FP3) the McLarens showed further promise with Lando Norris going fastest overall, with Piastri in fifth. The step forward that Aston Martin were aiming to deliver was partially delivered upon. Fernando Alonso is not in the team to fight over fifteenth place but he will be somewhat heartened to be less than a tenth of a second from there, with the potential to challenge the Haas drivers. Certainly, they look to have stepped in front of the Williams and the Cadillac.
When it came to Qualifying itself, Alonso was able to get out of Q1 on merit by a tenth of a second over the Haas of Ollie Bearman. This is a definitely a step forward for the Aston, but it would be a major surprise if they were able to get into any Q3 sessions in the year. It lays clear the long path the team have before them for the rest of this season.
In Q2 the usual suspects were knocked out - Alpine, Haas and the Audi of Bortoleto. The surprise addition on this occasion was Liam Lawson who was outqualified by his rookie teammate Lindblad by four tenths of a second and eventually ended up qualifying ninth.
In the final part of qualifying Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time after the first runs on what looked to be a slightly scrappy lap from the onboard camera. He assured the team over the radio that there was more time up his sleeve, but when it came to the final runs that would normally settle the final grid positions it was a messy event from all involved. Both the Ferraris failed to go any faster and four-time world champion Max Verstappen made an uncharacteristic mistake, spinning on the final corner and causing a yellow flag. This ruined the final laps of Russell and Piastri but in truth neither was really in the running for pole position. The stage was set for Lando to steam through and take pole by a mere 0.012 seconds from Lewis Hamilton with Charles Leclerc in third place.
It seems odd to hardly mention Kimi Antonelli in a report for the 2026 season, but he was fairly anonymous as he qualified fourth, equalling his 'worst' qualifying result of the season. Which, in a way, does say a lot about his season so far - that the teenager in only his second season in the sport can miss FP1 entirely and still put his car on the second row, but it almost wasn't mentioned.
At time of going to press there was a lingering possibility that Hamilton may take a three-place grid penalty for impeding Piastri as the Australian started his final hot lap and that George Russell may have to take a new power unit leading to a 10-place grid drop of his own. Watch this space.
