Sir Lewis Hamilton to fight from 5th after victory at Silverstone
- Damian Hall
- Jul 20, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 20, 2024
20th July 2024
Lando Norris secures third career pole at Hungarian Grand Prix
Lando Norris landed his third career pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest today (July 20), clocking a time of 1:15.227, writes Damian Hall.
The thrilling qualifying session was filled with drama and unexpected twists, setting the stage for an exciting race tomorrow.
Post-qualifying, the McLaren driver said he was “very happy”, but stressed “[it was] not an easy qualifying. To end up on pole today is sweet.”
The session began under challenging conditions with the track gradually drying after light rain minutes before.
Although Williams’ Logan Sargeant caused a temporary yellow flag after crashing with roughly 12 minutes remaining, the real drama unfolded when Red Bull’s Sergio Perez found himself in the wall at Turn 8, causing a red flag.
This incident stopped the clock with 6:45 remaining in Q1, allowing teams a chance to improve lap times once the session resumed on a much drier circuit.
The real shocker of the session came when Mercedes’ George Russell was eliminated due to under-fuelling, which meant he was not able to take advantage of the extra running time of the session. As a result, he faces a challenging race from 17th.
“I took it easy at the start of Q1 because we thought there was no more rain. so I thought the track was going to get quicker,” Russell said after the qualifying session. “Suddenly, it started raining and that lap 1 was crucial, but it didn’t matter because the track was quickest at the end, and Dani [Daniel Ricciardo] was P1. We had no fuel to finish the lap.”
He said he was “really quite angry with myself” and said “I don’t know how we found ourselves in that position. We should be out there right now fighting for a top 3.”
During the second qualifying session (Q2), teammate Sir Lewis Hamilton, who was victorious at Silverstone just two weeks ago, narrowly made it through to Q3 by just one-hundredth of a second. The seven-time world champion ultimately qualified in 5th, where he will fight from at the start of the race.
The Q3 session wasn’t without drama either. Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda also caused a red flag on the exit of Turn 5, halting the clock at 2:13. This incident opened up a last-ditch opportunity for drivers to challenge Norris’ provisional pole position, but conditions never allowed for improvements from the top drivers, leaving Norris to lead the charge tomorrow.
Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri will start in 2nd, and expressed his excitement post qualifying: “[It was an] amazing result for the team”, he said. “It wasn’t easy, A lot of decisions [had to be made] on the fly”.
When asked about his strategy, the driver, who is hunting for his first career win, said: “It’s a long run down to Turn 1, so there is still a lot to play for.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured third and noted that he would have liked “more grip” in the qualifiers, “but it wasn’t there at the moment.
“I tried to make it as close as possible but just not enough,” he said. “I love competition, but I would like to be on top of the competition, but at the moment it feels like we are chasing.”
The stage is set for an electrifying Hungarian Grand Prix with McLaren locking out the front row and the relentless pursuit from Verstappen and Hamilton.
The long run down to Turn 1 promises a thrilling start.
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