Hungary GP: Surprise Pole for George
George Russell pulled off a surprise Pole at Hungary. Ferrari boys came P2 and P3. It was a day to forget for Red Bull.
Miracle from George at Hungary
It will be a day that George will not forget any time soon. Coming to Hungary Mercedes brought in a slew of upgrades but none seem to be working in the Friday practice session. George even admits to Mercedes team having a moment of crisis Friday evening, questioning the entire philosophy of their car in the 2022 season. But things turned around and how for the Silver Arrows. The weather changed on Saturday and so did their fortune. Some minor tweaks here and there, small adjustments and a banger of a lap from the young Brit resulted in a first pole for the Mercedes team in the 2022 season. His team-mate and seven time World Champion Lewis Hamilton had DRS issues in the final run, else it would have been a front row start for the Silver Arrows. Mercedes long run pace is still unknown so the race will be very exciting to watch.
Ferrari : There but no quite
Ferrari needs to go all guns blazing if they want to stay in the Championship race. As Mattia Binotto said, ‘Nothing less than a Ferrari 1-2 is acceptable to us at Hungary’. They had the pace but were narrowly pipped by George. Carlos Sainz seems to be getting a hang of the car and did better than Charles LeClerc who has garnered multiple poles this season. Still Ferrari would not mind P2 and P3 going into the race. Ferrari needs to make the most of the Red Bull fiasco.
Red Bull : A Day to Forget
Things went from bad to worse for the Championship leaders. Sergio Perez seems to be a bit out of touch with the upgraded Red Bull. He put in a good lap in Q2 but it was deleted for violating the track limits but was re-instated by the FIA after observing that he did not really violate the limits. But in all this confusion he couldn’t put in a clean lap and will be starting P11. Max Verstappen had good pace, in fact even better than they had expected. But he could not put in a clean lap in his first Q3 run but even worse he had a power failure in his final Q3 run, relegating him to P10. We cannot count him out though as he would be looking to make up the places quickly in the race.
Upgrades working for McLaren
Upgrades have brought McLaren to life with Lando making the most of it and will be starting P4. His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo still not in complete sync with the McLaren will be starting P9. Alpine did a great job with Ocon at P5 and Alonso P6. Valtteri Bottas would be happy to be back in Q3 and will be starting P8.
Sebastian Vettel who announced his retirement at the end of 2022 season couldn’t get out of Q1.
Hungary GP : George on Pole
