Hungarian GP 2023

Lewis Hamilton ends drought with 104th pole at Hungarian GP, beating Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton ends a 33-race pole position drought at the Hungarian GP, narrowly beating Max Verstappen. Hamilton's resurgence and new F1 qualifying regulations debut mark an exciting race weekend ahead.

Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian Gran Prix - Credit: Mercedes F1

Max Verstappen is narrowly beaten for pole position by none other than Lewis Hamilton who has not seen a P1 grand prix start in 33 races.

Lewis Hamilton will be starting in pole position for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix setting the pace with a 1:16.909, narrowly beating Max Verstappen who ran a 1:16.612.

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be starting Sunday’s race from P3 and P4 after another weekend of success.

Zhou Guanyu will be starting the race from P5, his best qualifying of his time in Formula 1, after setting a time of 1:16.971, followed by the only Ferrari to make it into Q3, Charles Leclerc at 1:16.992.

Leclerc is followed by Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, and Nico Hulkenburg to round out the top 10.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton post Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying - Credit: Formula 1

New Qualifying Regulations

This was the first weekend where new qualifying regulations were put into place. In an attempt to reduce tyre usage during race weekend, a new qualifying format was tested today.

Teams will only be allowed to use the hard tyre in Q1, the medium tyre in Q2, and the soft tyre in Q3 whereas they have had free reign of tyre choice in previous races.

Several drivers have voiced their concern for this new set of regulations prior to qualifying this afternoon.

The decision to limit the amount of tyres available to the teams comes from the changes Formula 1 are trying to implement in order to reduce their overall environmental impact.

Lewis Hamilton at post Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying - Credit: Formula 1

Is this the return of Mercedes?

Lewis Hamilton’s pole position is his first in 33 races. The seven time world champion closed the 2022 season last year without a win, making it the first year in his career without a first place podium finish.

Like McLaren, Mercedes have implemented a number of upgrades to their cars, bringing the team back into contention after a year away.

While the upgrades saw Hamilton take his record breaking 104th pole, his teammate, George Russell, failed to make it out of Q1 and will start P18 for Sunday’s race.

The battle between Perez and Ricciardo continues

Today’s qualifying was the first time Sergio Perez has made it into Q3 since the Miami Grand Prix.

Perez starting P9 will be a boost of confidence for the driver after yesterday’s crash in FP1 and Daniel Ricciardo’s return looming over him.

As for Daniel Ricciardo’s first race back, he out-qualified his teammate Yuki Tsunoda who will be starting P17.

As it is Ricciardo’s first race back this season, making it into Q2 and having a safe weekend will be important in his fight back to RedBull.

Lando Norris post Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying - Credit: McLarenF1

McLaren’s updates still holding strong

It had remained to be seen whether the updates to the McLaren cars would benefit them on low speed tracks until qualifying.

With both cars starting P3 and P4 tomorrow, McLaren are looking at another possible podium for the season which will further widen their margin over Alpine.

The Alpine drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, both exited in Q2 and will be starting in P12 and P15.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will take place tomorrow at 1500 local time.