2023-07-22 23:43:00
New regulations, new picture: Record world champion Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) snatched the pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix (Sunday, 3 p.m. / Sky) from defending champion Max Verstappen (Netherlands) in an exciting qualifying session. The Mercedes star prevailed at the Hungaroring with a narrow lead of three thousandths of a second over Verstappen, third was the recently strong Lando Norris (Great Britain) in the McLaren.
“It was a crazy year and a half,” said Hamilton, “I almost lost my voice screaming in the car. It feels like the very first time.” Verstappen felt that “we should be at the front with this car, but that didn’t quite work out”.
For Hamilton, it was the first pole since December 5, 2021 and the 104th of his career. Nico Hülkenberg (Emmerich) once more showed a strong qualifying performance in the Haas and started the race in tenth place.
After the last six wins in a row, Verstappen leads the World Championship by 99 points, the closest “pursuer” is his teammate Perez. With his 255 points, Verstappen alone would lead the team classification.
Red Bull with a chance of a record
Red Bull can set a new record of twelve consecutive wins in Hungary on Sunday. The shower racing stable currently shares the record of eleven consecutive wins with McLaren, who achieved this feat in 1988 with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Verstappen and Co. did not have a free choice of tires for the first time in qualifying. Formula 1 tested a rule change called “Alternative Tire Allocation” at the Hungaroring to improve the sustainability of the sport.
The drivers had to use the hard tire compound in the first run, the medium tires in the second and then the fastest variant with the softs in the third. The format will be tested a second time in Monza in early September.
British ecstasy at Silverstone: Norris rewards himself at home
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