Norris clinches pole ahead of Piastri and Verstappen during dramatic qualifying in Hungary as Perez crashes out

Lando Norris has taken pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix after a dramatic qualifying session which featured wet-dry conditions, two red flags and a frantic final dash to the line.

After the McLaren man set an impressive provisional pole time of 1m 15.227s during the opening runs of Q3, the action was brought to a halt when Yuki Tsunoda suffered a heavy crash in the RB. As such, the session resumed with just over two minutes left on the clock.

Given changing weather conditions, most of the field were unable to improve and Norris retained P1, ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri by 0.022s. Max Verstappen – who opted not to put another lap in during the final moments – took third for Red Bull, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fourth and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the top five for Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc slotted into P6 for Ferrari, while Aston Martin had a decent outing as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll took P7 and P8 respectively. RB’s Daniel Ricciardo also enjoyed a solid day in P9, ahead of the aforementioned Tsunoda in P10.

Nico Hulkenberg only just missed out on progressing to Q3 by one hundredth of a second in the Haas, while Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas also failed to make it through in P12.

Despite a promising showing earlier on, the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant dropped out of Q2 in 13th and 14th places, along with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen in 15th.

There was significant drama in Q1, with Sergio Perez bringing out the red flags after hitting the barriers in the Red Bull. Having been unable to continue, the Mexican ended the day in P16. Also eliminated was George Russell in P17, with the Mercedes man having seemingly put his lap in too early.

Zhou Guanyu took 18th place in the Kick Sauber, while Alpine’s decision not to put another lap in during the final minutes backfired as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly exited in 19th and 20th respectively.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Drama aplenty as Ricciardo goes fastest, Russell exits and Perez brings out red flags

After three practice sessions in very warm conditions across Friday and Saturday, the drivers and teams returned to action for qualifying, ready to decide the grid for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

With cloud cover bringing drops of rain in the hour ahead of the session – cooling the temperatures to around 26 degrees Celsius – the showers had intensified at the Hungaroring in the run-up to Q1 kicking off at 1600 local time, before easing off when the lights went green.

This meant that slick tyres were still in order as a queue of cars headed out on track, all sporting the soft compound as a dry racing line quickly started to form on the circuit. Given a lingering threat of rain, though, everybody was keen to get an early lap on the board.

Hamilton put himself on top after the first runs with a time of 1m 17.087s, while Sargeant – who had impressively gone fifth quickest – briefly brought out the yellow flags after hitting the barriers into Turn 1, causing damage to his front wing.

Some big names, meanwhile, looked to be at risk, with Leclerc and Russell hovering near the danger zone while Ricciardo and Hulkenberg were ensconced in it. Leclerc then managed to haul himself into the top-10, and Ricciardo improved just enough to go 15th before being pushed down again.

With just under seven minutes left on the clock, the session came to a dramatic halt when Perez spun off into the barriers after losing the rear of his RB20 on the slippery kerbs. The Mexican fortunately emerged unharmed, but – given the pressure that has been mounting on him after a run of poor results - would likely be feeling quite downhearted about the incident.

While the rest of the field waited in the pits during the red flag period, all eyes were on the weather; the rain had become heavier again prior to Q1 resuming but, when the action got underway again, conditions looked to have improved.

However, this had again left a damp track with just a few minutes remaining as the likes of Russell – at risk in P14 – headed back out for another run. The Mercedes driver improved to go 10th quickest, while the whole field had emerged on circuit barring the Alpine pair, a move that could potentially put Ocon and Gasly in danger.

Ricciardo sparked some cheers from the crowd after going fastest of all, and the likes of Stroll, Bottas and Magnussen also improved. But Russell seemed to have put his effort in too early, with the Briton being pushed down to P17.

Perez exited in P16 – having been unable to rejoin following his earlier crash – and Zhou was also unlucky in P18. Alpine, meanwhile, saw their decision not to go out again backfire, as Ocon and Gasly were eliminated in P19 and P20.

Knocked out: Perez, Russell, Zhou, Ocon, Gasly

Q2 – Norris quickest and Hamilton makes it by one hundredth of a second

After the dust settled on the drama of Q1, it was a quiet start to the second segment of qualifying, with Sainz having the track to himself as he put his first lap on the board sporting used soft tyres.

As the rest of the field joined the action for their first runs, it was Verstappen – on fresh rubber – who set an initial benchmark on a lap of 1m 15.770s, while Piastri was just 0.015s behind thanks to an impressive effort in the McLaren on used softs.

With five minutes to go, Bottas, Sargeant, Albon, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo were the drivers at risk, with the latter having not set a time during the opening runs. A queue formed in the pit lane ahead of the final laps, prompting a frustrated Hulkenberg to report: “We’re getting done here. This is taking too long.”

Hamilton was one of those at the front of the pack but the seven-time world champion struggled to dramatically improve, pushing him down the order from P6 as others bettered their times.

The Mercedes driver managed to stay in – just – in a final position of P10, with his lap only one hundredth of a second ahead of Hulkenberg in P11.

While Norris went fastest and the likes of RB also improved, Bottas missed out on progressing to Q3 along with Albon, Sargeant and Magnussen.

Knocked out: Hulkenberg, Bottas, Albon, Sargeant, Magnussen

Q3 – Pole for Norris as red flags spark busy end to session

Verstappen was the first on track as the top-10 shootout began, with the Red Bull putting an early lap in on new soft tyres. “Make that lack of a tow count, Max,” Verstappen was told by engineer GP.

With Alonso warned that there was a possibility of rain affecting the second runs, the pressure was on to put in a strong effort on the first try. While it initially looked like Verstappen had sealed provisional pole position, the Dutchman was displaced by Norris, with the McLaren going fastest by three tenths of a second on a lap of 1m 15.227s.

Piastri had slotted into third, ahead of Leclerc in fourth and Hamilton in fifth place. And with those first laps complete, the rain had started to lightly fall again at the Hungaroring. Could the weather prevent any dramatic improvements?

Several drivers were keen to avoid this possibility, with the likes of Verstappen and Piastri already getting back on track with a few minutes still on the clock. While Piastri improved on a time just 0.022s away from his team mate – and Verstappen completed a lap that put him in third – the red flags were thrown after Tsunoda had a hefty crash in the RB out of Turn 5.

The Japanese driver was thankfully able to walk away from the incident. Meanwhile, several drivers – barring Verstappen and Alonso – had already lined up in the pit lane to await the restart of the session, which would begin again with just 2:13 remaining. Would everybody make it to the line in time to put a lap in?

Well, all apart from Sainz did, resulting in the Ferrari driver pitting while everyone else attempted to improve. Ricciardo was the only driver to better his time, meaning that Norris remained in pole position just ahead of team mate Piastri.

Verstappen held onto P3, with the Dutchman set to share the second row with Sainz in P4, while future Ferrari team mates Leclerc and Hamilton line up in P5 and P6. Alonso and Stroll followed in P7 and P8 on a decent day for Aston Martin, while Ricciardo took P9 ahead of Tsunoda – who was unable to rejoin – in P10.

Key quote

"[I'm] very, very happy," said pole-sitter Norris. "Not an easy qualifying, difficult conditions like you said, but always ending up on top is the best part of it also. Happy, especially for the team, a one-two is even better to see, so congrats to the team.

"It does [give us confidence], but we've already got confidence so it's not like we need a lot more of it, or we're searching for it. We've come into this weekend and the last few happy and confident we can do a good job, and we've got a good car to fight for pole and that's exactly what we did today, so like I said a great job by the team; we've been improving every weekend, so to end up on pole today is sweet."

What's next

The 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from the Hungaroring.