BUDAPEST — Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton reminded the competition of his capabilities during Saturday’s qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS driver set a fast lap of 1 minute, 16.609 seconds at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest during the closing minutes of qualifying, clinching his 104th career pole award and first of the season.
“We’ve been pushing so much over this time so to finally get pole position is great; it feels just like the first time. 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,” Hamilton said. “There’s been plenty of ups and downs over the past 18 months.
“It’s been a roller-coaster ride, but none of us have lost faith. We’ve all just hauled together and stayed united. We’re focusing on trying to steer the car in the right direction.”
Defending champion Max Verstappen was hot on his heels, setting a torrid pace in his Red Bull Racing machine, but his 1-minute, 16.612-second lap time wasn’t enough to beat Hamilton for pole position.
“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. We tried a lot of different things in terms of set-up but it didn’t really work,” Verstappen said. “Nothing is lost, we have a good race car and it will be a good battle with them tomorrow.”
McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who finished third and fourth, will start from the second row.
Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu qualified fifth. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc,