Hungarian Grand Prix – starting grid | M4 Sport

That was a long time ago! To be exact, in 2012 at the Brazilian Grand Prix. That was the last time two McLaren cars were on the front row of a race grid. On Sunday at the Hungaroring, Woking’s first and second place again. While the team scored the 9th pole in the history of the team on the Hungarian track (with which they overtook Mercedes), Lando Norris took the first. With this, he is the first McLaren competitor at the top of the grid since Lewis Hamilton won here in 2012.

This is the third pole position of Norris’ current career, and the second in 2024. With his victory within the team, he continues to maintain his unbeaten streak in Hungaroring. On the previous six occasions, he beat his teammate in the time trial on this track.

How good the first starting place is for Norris is another question. None of the last three Hungarian races was won by the starter from the front, and in fact, the winner of the previous four races this year did not become the owner of the pole.

Oscar Piastri is on the starting line for the third time in his career. He doesn’t have a pole yet, just three second places. He recorded the previous two last year in Suzuka and this year in Monaco. The last time we saw the McLaren front row, the runner-up was the winner of the race.

Lando Norris (Photo: XPB)

Max Verstappen now has to settle for third place. Red Bull’s ups and downs are indicated by the fact that the Dutchman, who was invincible for seven weekends at the beginning of the year, managed only one pole position in the previous six race weekends.

He shares the second row with his old teammate, Carlos Sainz, who has only started from a higher position at the Hungaroring once, in 2022, and was second then.

Hamilton is behind him on the fifth grid. For the first time since 2013, Mercedes has no car in the top four on the Hungarian Grand Prix grid. For the third time this year, the seven-time world champion defeated George Russell in qualifying, who had already bled in Q1. The 2022 pole-winner said goodbye for the second time in a row in the first half of the time trial on the Hungarian track.

The two Aston Martins got a place in the top ten. Fernando Alonso’s seventh place is his best starting position since Canada, while Lance Stroll participated in Q3 in Hungary for only the second time.

Daniel Ricciardo also made it to Q3, beating his team-mate, and was also the first to advance from Q2. The last time we saw his name in the first place was during the first free practice of the Bahrain Grand Prix… RB managed to get both of its cars into the top 10 for the second time this year, for the first time in Hungary since 2018.

Sergio Perez (Photo: Coates / XPB Images)

In the second half of the field, the two Williams are in an unusually good position. Alexander Albon’s 13th place is his best so far on the Hungarian track with his current team, and Logan Sargeant’s 14th place was the second time in a row that he participated in Q2.

Besides Russell, the big loser of the time trial was Sergio Pérez, who will only start from 16th place. It was his 4th Q1 bye in the last six weekends, his second in a row after Silverstone. This is the same number of eliminations in this period as the two drivers of Sauber.

His situation is not completely hopeless. In 2021, Carlos Sainz started from the same grid and ended up in third place. True, this required a big crash at the start, some rain and the exclusion of Sebastian Vettel…

Only 19 of the 20 cars in the field line up at the finish line of the Hungaroring. Pierre Gasly is forced to start from the pit lane after breaking the parc fermé rule. His car was modified by Alpine after the last place on Saturday.

The Hungaroring fight starts at 15:00. From here, the field awaits the start of the 13th race of the year!