Charles Leclerc stunned the paddock under the blazing Hungarian sun, stealing pole position from under the noses of the McLaren title rivals, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Qualifying Drama at the Hungaroring
Until the final runs in Q3, Leclerc hadn’t shown the zip to match the McLarens, yet clawed a shock margin of 0.026 seconds ahead of Piastri and a razor-thin 0.015 seconds in front of Norris, who now sits 16 points behind in the drivers’ standings. George Russell secured P4 for Mercedes, chased home by the Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll who brilliantly locked the third row.
Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton bowed out in Q2 and must settle for P12. Max Verstappen, out of sorts all weekend, edged P8 after Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Leclerc’s Reaction
When Leclerc’s engineer Bryan Bozzi announced the improbable pole, the 26-year-old could only stammer, “What?” and, “Mamma Mia.” Later, the Ferrari driver confessed:
“I’m lost for words. This is probably my best pole because I didn’t imagine it. I still don’t understand anything in Formula 1. The entire qualifying session was ridiculously hard, and I’m not exaggerating. I couldn’t believe it. We fought every lap to reach Q2—and fought again to make Q3. Then, when Q3 started, the weather flipped again. Suddenly the track was a different animal, more difficult, and I knew the only plan was to keep it clean and push for P3. Ending up on pole was totally unreal for me.”
Piastri and Norris Comment
Oscar Piastri chimed in: “The wind flipped completely between Q2 and Q3, and that changed how the car behaved. It’s always hard to read a track when it’s in that state. I thought we’d have been quicker, to be honest.”
Norris added: “Charles took a big risk on that final lap. The wind shifted again and that was the bite we didn’t expect. We thought we’d nailed our laps, but the timing said otherwise. We were just slower.”