Lewis Hamilton claimed the prestigious pole position during Saturday’s Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying session, while fellow Mercedes teammate George Russell only managed to take P18.
Saturday’s qualifying session for the 2023 Hungarian GP was quite an eventful one, with new tyre regulations in place, making it hard for some to adapt, and easy for others to thrive. Hard compound tyres were mandatory for Q1, with medium tires for Q2, and softs for Q3, forcing a shuffling effect on the grid, as some drivers performed really well under the new rules, and others were left behind.
Hamilton set the fastest lap time in Q3, managing to pip Max Verstappen and Red Bull to pole position, by just 0003s. Teammate Russell fared much worse, as he was only 18th fastest overall, only having Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant behind him. Unfortunate, as the driver of car number 63 managed to take pole position here, this time only last year.
Russell’s final lap was badly compromised as cars passed him in the final corner and he had no tyre temperature at the beginning of his last lap on hards.
“Today we were fast, and the car felt great. Unfortunately, we were out of sync with everybody else for the whole session.
The British driver continued: “We have a great team around us but the whole session just wasn’t good enough for our standards. There was a lot of traffic at the end of the final sector, and the lap was gone when I was three tenths down by turn one.
“The hard tyre works well here, especially with the high temperatures, but we were just on track at the wrong time,” concluded the 25-year-old.
A miserable day for Russell gives him plenty more work to do during Sunday’s race, as he looks to climb up the grid, and secure some valuable points for the team, as Hamilton looks to keep Verstappen behind, and claim his first win since 2021.
The Hungarian Grand Prix takes place on Sunday, for what is round eleven of the 2023 F1 World Championship.
Photo credit Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
