Formula 1 News: Lando Norris wins pole for 2024 Hungarian GP

Lando Norris turned a lap of 1m15.227s on his first run in Q3 to beat his McLaren teammate for pole for the 2024 Hungarian GP at the challenging Hungaroring. A McLaren front-row lockout.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

It was the third F1 career pole for Norris who beat Piastri’s time by just 0.022s in a very exciting qualifying session.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was a close third, o.046s behind Norris.

Carlos Sainz jr. put the #55 Ferrari in 4th, 0.469s behind Norris.

Lewis Hamilton was 5th for Mercedes, 0.627s behind Norris and ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll share the fourth row, ahead of the VCARBs of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda – but it remains to be seen if Tsunoda needs a pit lane start, his gearbox likely to have been damaged by that heavy crash in Q3.

A red flag came out with two minutes to go in  Q3 when Yuki Tsunoda crashed his #22 VCARB hard.

Sergio Perez crashed out during the first part of qualifying at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Mexican, who is coming under increasing pressure to keep hold of his Red Bull seat despite signing a new deal, spun off in damp conditions at Turn 7 and slammed into the barriers in the opening session of qualifying at the Hungaroring.

Perez had set the ninth-quickest time and looked set to progress into Q2 before his crash which will only see the pressure on him ramp up.

The crash, which caused heavy damage to Perez’s Red Bull car, means he will start Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix no higher than 16th.

“Not an easy qualifying, mixed conditions but happy and a 1-2 is even better to see,” said Norris. “We’ve come into this weekend and the last few happy and confident we can fight for pole and that’s exactly what we’ve done. We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us [tomorrow].”

“It’s cool to be here, especially when you get a result like this – the first 1-2 for McLaren in qualifying for a very long time,” said Piastri. “We had a tricky day on my side yesterday so it was nice to bounce back. Qualifying wasn’t easy, a lot of decisions on the fly so it’s nice to end up where we’ve ended up. I’m happy with my day’s work, and it’s a long run down to Turn 1 so all still to play for.”

“I tried, the whole weekend we have been a little bit behind and that was the case in qualifying,” said third place Max Verstappen.

“It just wasn’t enough, difficult to pin-point why that is. P3 is still very close, just have to hope the car is good in the race. I love competition, but I would like to be on top of the competition but at the moment I feel we are chasing, and I don’t back out of a fight but it’s trickier I guess. With the rain today, tomorrow should be a different day and I just hope that will help us”

Tomorrow

One thing helping McLaren is the fact they have two cars at the sharp end – Red Bull do not. Verstappen will therefore have to not just make his way past both Piastri and Norris to win, but also counter whatever McLaren throw at him strategy wise. They can cover him if they want, or split their strategies – the ball is very much in their court.

2024 Hungarian GP Qualifying Results