A new tyre format was introduced for today’s Qualifying so let’s find out who gained or lost out as a result in one of the most important Qualifying Sessions of the entire Season.
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Alex Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell, Kevin Magnussen, and Logan Sargeant were the five slowest drivers. Alex Albon will be gutted to have been knocked out in Q1 by just 11 thousandths of a second whilst Yuki Tsunoda will be frustrated at the fact that he was outqualified by his new teammate. However, the most frustrated man today was definitely George Russell who will be super annoyed with a P18 starting position. Kevin Magnussen had another shocking performance in his Haas whilst Logan Sargeant returned to being slowest in Qualifying. Amazingly, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu topped Q1 by a tenth and a half to Max Verstappen.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, and Pierre Gasly all failed to make it into the top 10 shootout. Carlos Sainz will be gutted with missing out on Q3 by just 2 thousandths of a second whilst Esteban Ocon continues to show that Alpine are definitely falling behind a bit when it comes to development. Daniel Ricciardo should be pleased with his efforts to get his Alpha Tauri into P13 whilst Lance Stroll just can’t seem to get the performance out of his Aston Martin right now. Pierre Gasly was slowest in Q2 on the Medium tyres and he’s another driver who’s struggling at the moment. McLaren’s Lando Norris found himself top of Q2 ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
Q3
In Qualifying 3; Lewis Hamilton set a 1:16.609 to take his first Pole Position since Jeddah 2021! It’s been a long time coming for the 7-time World Champion and he managed to beat Max Verstappen to Pole by just 3 thousandths of a second! McLaren had yet another fantastic day as Lando Norris brilliantly qualified 3rd whilst Oscar Piastri will line up P4 after another great showing. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu will line up in P5 on the grid tomorrow after what has to be Zhou’s best-ever Qualifying performance whilst Charles Leclerc could only manage 6th in his Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas also did a great job to qualify 7th whilst Fernando Alonso will be disappointed with only finishing 8th. Whilst Sergio Perez will be glad to finally make it back into Q3, P9 is still not good enough from the Red Bull driver whilst Nico Hulkenberg did another good job to get his Haas into Q3.
Starting Grid for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix and my Qualifying Grades
Lewis Hamilton: 10
Max Verstappen: 9
Lando Norris: 10
Oscar Piastri: 9
Zhou Guanyu: 10
Charles Leclerc: 6
Valtteri Bottas: 9
Fernando Alonso: 5
Sergio Perez: 4
Nico Hulkenberg: 7
Carlos Sainz: 3
Esteban Ocon: 4
Daniel Ricciardo: 6
Lance Stroll: 2
Pierre Gasly: 2
Alex Albon: 3
Yuki Tsunoda: 2
George Russell: 1
Kevin Magnussen: 1
Logan Sargeant: 1
My Predictions for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
Lando Norris
Oscar Piastri
Sergio Perez
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