Papaya Bears Fruit At The Hungaroring

It’s an all-McLaren front row for the Hungarian Grand Prix with Lando Norris (1’15”227) on pole ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri by just 22 thousandths (1’15”249). This was the Englishman’s third pole position following on from the one in Sochi in 2021 and in Barcelona this year. The last time McLaren locked out the front row was in the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, with two world champions, Lewis Hamilton on pole and Jenson Button alongside him. It is the team’s 158th pole position, its tenth at the Hungaroring, the last one dating back to 2012, courtesy of Hamilton.

On the second row of the grid, we find Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, third in 1’15”273, just 46 thousandths of a second slower than Norris, and Carlos Sainz fourth for Ferrari, 469 thousandths down.

The weather was very different compared to yesterday. Right from the third free practice session, the temperatures were much lower, especially the track, which was over 20 °C cooler than in FP1. Furthermore, rain put in an appearance just before qualifying and then reappeared occasionally, but the track never got wet enough to require the use of intermediate tyres.

In FP3, almost all the teams focused on preparing for qualifying, running the Soft compound. There were two exceptions: Red Bull Racing who used the Hard, including over a long run and Aston Martin who also used a set of Mediums.

Qualifying did not run particularly smoothly, partly because of the changing weather and partly because of two red flag periods, the first when Sergio Perez went off in Q1 and the second when Yuki Tsunoda crashed in Q3. The Soft was the only compound used and, as expected, peak performance was delivered on the first timed lap. The drop in temperature made it easier for the drivers to manage the C5 on a flying lap, improving the balance of the car across the two axles and reducing overheating of the rear tyres, which was particularly significant yesterday in the final sector.

Lando Norris – Pole

“I’m very happy with that! It wasn’t an easy qualifying session with the constant changing conditions, but we’ve been improving steadily and have come into this weekend confident that we can do a good job. Congratulations to the team – having a 1-2 here is brilliant and a great reward for everyone’s hard work.

“Looking ahead to tomorrow, the conditions may be different again, but we’re in the best position to cope with whatever the weather delivers. The car is going fine, I feel like I’m driving well and we’re looking forward to putting in another strong performance on track.”

Oscar Piastri – 2nd

“Very cool to be on the front row and a great result for the team. My final lap was a good one, though to miss out on pole by a couple of hundredths, you’re always thinking of the small things you could have done a little better.

“We had a bit of a tricky day on my side of the garage yesterday, but everyone worked hard, and it was nice to bounce back well this morning. We then built on that this afternoon with a positive Quali in challenging conditions. Let’s start strong tomorrow and secure a mega result for the team!”

Max Verstappen – 3rd

“I was a bit frustrated we ended up with P3 today, but showing emotion shows I really care about our performance and doing well. The long runs we did in the practice session today have been okay; we have been working throughout the weekend to find the right balance within the car but we still have work to do and need to be realistic. When the session had a red flag in Q3, we had used a new set of tyres already so there was no point in going out again as we wouldn’t have improved on our lap time. I was hoping for a bit more from qualifying but we can assess and see what we can do to get the best out of the car a bit better and improve the pace. Today we ultimately didn’t optimise our performance: we will work with the Team to see what we can do ahead of tomorrow and make sure we have a better race day. I’m glad Checo is okay and it was a shame he crashed as he was having a decent weekend up until that point. It should be a bit warmer tomorrow as well and we see what the race brings.”

Mario Isola – Pirelli Director of Motorsport

“Once again, here at the Hungaroring, we witnessed a spectacular qualifying, with the first three drivers lapping within 46 thousandths of a second of each other, while there were also several twists and turns. That all points to it being a very closely contested race tomorrow, both right at the front and in the battle for the remaining points. It’s worth noting that, over the course of a year, car performance has increased significantly, given that today’s pole position time is almost one and a half seconds quicker than last year on what is one of the shortest tracks on the calendar.

“In terms of strategy this is a race where the classic two-stop is the clear favourite. On paper, the quickest option is to start on the Medium before then bringing in the Hard. Clearly, the number of available sets of these two harder compounds will determine the teams’ decisions. On that topic, there are three teams – Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari – whose drivers only have one set of new Hard and two of new Medium available, while one, Aston Martin, has one set of new Medium and one of new Hard. All the other teams have at least two sets of Hard and one of Medium.

“Another very important factor to consider will be a return to hotter conditions for tomorrow with the track expected to exceed the 50 °C mark by a considerable margin.”

FORMULA 2

Tyres played an important role in the Sprint Race, with the grid pretty much divided in two when it came to compound choice for the start: 12 drivers went for the Soft and ten for the Hard. The grip advantage from the Soft was clear to see off the line and in the opening laps. For example, from fourth on the grid, Kimi Antonelli (Prema) went into the lead in just a handful of laps, but then with more significant degradation than the Hard, only those who were able to manage the softer compound most effectively, such as Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) or Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport), got the best out of it. Others, such as the aforementioned Antonelli, had to pit and were then unable to move back up the order despite being able to count on fresher tyres. Richard Verschoor (Trident) was first past the chequered flag ahead of Kush Maini (Invicta Racing) and Martins. But the Dutchman was disqualified for a technical infringement on his car, promoting Maini to first place, Martins to second with Isaak Hadjar (Campos) now third.

FORMULA 3

Nikita Bedrin made the most of starting from the front row of the grid to claim his first FIA Formula 3 win with the AIX Racing team. The Russian, who races with an Italian license took the chequered flag ahead of his Thai team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, finishing on the Formula 3 podium for the very first time, thus rounding off a perfect Saturday for the team. Dino Beganovic (PREMA Racing) secured the third step on the podium. As for the tyres, the Hard showed very limited degradation, allowing the drivers to push and fight from start to finish.