Lewis Hamilton takes his 90th Pole Position by beating Mercedes team-mate Valterri Bottas as Williams get both cars into Q2 for the first time since 2018.
18th July 2020
For a second Saturday in a row, Lewis Hamilton qualified on Pole at one of his most successful tracks. It's his 90th in his career and his seventh round the Hungaroring which matches the record set by Michael Schumacher. Hamilton also has the opportunity to record his eighth victory in Hungary tomorrow which also matches the record at one given circuit.
After the first laps in Q3, Hamilton had a three tenth advantage over Bottas but on their final laps, Bottas had managed to get the gap down to a tenth but it wasn't enough to overhaul the Brit.
Behind the Mercedes duo came the "Pink Mercedes" duo of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez for Racing Point. By far the second quickest team this weekend, the team locked-out the second row of the grid. Previously, Stroll had never qualified higher than 15th while Perez has never been higher than 9th.
Stroll and Perez, along with Hamilton and Bottas, set their Q2 times on the Medium tyre but it was the Racing Point's who were more nervous about surviving the session. Both were able to improve enough to reach the final stage of Qualifying but it was close.
Locking-out the third row of the grid were the Ferrari's of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc. It's the first time this season that both drivers have made it into the top ten. It's a welcome relief for the Scuderia to be ahead of the Red Bull's and the McLaren's.
Max Verstappen, who took pole last year, qualified his Red Bull in seventh but was hampered with engine issues in the final part of Qualifying. His team-mate, Alexander Albon, also struggled and and will start the race from 13th. Both drivers have been off the pace this weekend despite being the closest challengers to Mercedes in Austria with both not finding the right balance of their RB16's.
The McLaren's of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr lined up in 8th and 9th with the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly, who's had a horrible weekend of endless problems, in 10th. The Frenchman made it into Q3 but failed to set a lap time.
Sainz is currently under investigation after impeding Antonio Giovinazzi in Q1 and could receive a grid penalty if the stewards find that he held the Alfa Romeo up.
It was an under-whelming performance for Renault with Daniel Ricciardo just missing out on a place in the top ten in 11th with team-mate Esteban Ocon in 14th.
It was a memorable day for Williams who were able to get both drivers into the second part of Qualifying. George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, who will stay with the team for next season, qualified in 12th and 15th. It's a second Q2 appearance in a row for Russell who excelled in the wet conditions in Styria who started the race in 11th.
Both Haas drivers were knocked-out in Q1 with Kevin Magnussen in 16th and Romain Grosjean in 18th with the Alpha Tauri of Daniil Kvyat in between them in 17th.
It was a poor performance by Alfa Romeo with Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen qualifying in 19th and 20th.
Hungarian Qualifying Result
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Valterri Bottas, Mercedes
Lance Stroll, Racing Point
Sergio Perez, Racing Point
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Lando Norris, McLaren
Carlos Sainz Jr, McLaren
Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri
Daniel Ricciardo, Renault
George Russell, Williams
Alexander Albon, Red Bull
Esteban Ocon, Renault
Nicholas Latifi, Williams
Kevin Magnussen, Haas
Daniil Kvyat, Alpha Tauri
Romain Grosjean, Haas
Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo
Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo