Charles Leclerc stunned the McLaren drivers to take a shock pole position for the 2025 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, beating Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris by less than a tenth of a second in Q3.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen recovered from a difficult run through practice to make the top 10 but could only qualify eighth, while Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth and Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto a career best seventh.
A week on from suffering the worst F1 qualifying result in the team’s history at the Belgian Grand Prix, Aston Martin enjoyed its best qualifying of the season, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both making Q3 and qualifying fifth and sixth.
Lewis Hamilton suffered his worst ever F1 qualifying session at the Hungaroring, falling in Q2 and qualifying his Ferrari only 12th fastest.
Hamilton was actually 13th at the end of Q2 but gained a place when Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli’s best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. Antonelli is due to start 15th.
Yuki Tsunoda will start from the pitlane after Red Bull elected to fit a new set of power unit components. He originally qualified in 16th place.
Hungarian GP starting grid
1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3 Lando Norris (McLaren)
4 George Russell (Mercedes)
5 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
6 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
7 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
8 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
10 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
11 Ollie Bearman (Haas)
12 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
13 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
15 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
16 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
17 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
18 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
19 Alex Albon (Williams)
Pitlane: Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
