Hungary GP Quali : Mercedes lock front row
The Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Bottas lock the front row of the Hungary GP with Red Bulls locking the second row.
Mercedes back in form at the Hungary GP
Hungary GP has been a favourite hunting ground for Lewis, winning 8 races here in the past. He seems to be continuing the trend. The win at Silverstone has given a much needed boost to the Mercedes team and to Hamilton as the championship seemed to be drifting away from them. In all the practice sessions Mercedes seemed to be a bit better than Red Bulls and it showed in the Quali session.
This is Hamilton’s 101st career pole and he will certainly relish it.
Interestingly both the Mercedes will be starting on the Mediums whereas the Red Bulls of Max and Sergio will be starting on Softs. So it will be a great start to the race. Valtteri Bottas, under pressure from George Russell to preserve his Mercedes seat, did his job perfectly, coming in at P2. On the other hand there would be much disappointment for George as he could not come in Q2 for the first time this season. Both Valtteri and George need to perform well as Mercedes team Principal Toto Wolff has said that the second seat for 2022 will be decided in the summer break.
Red Bull aching to fight back
Red Bull is still licking their wounds from the Silverstone race, as Max was pushed off by Lewis and Sergio couldn’t do much. They would have very much wanted to come back stronger but can’t seem to find any distinct advantage to put them ahead of Mercedes firmly.
A slight controversy erupted in Q3 as Lewis was extremely slow in coming out of the pit lane, so eventually Sergio ran out of time and couldn’t complete his final lap. Max did not comment much about it but there were a lot of boos from the crowd for Lewis. Anyway, going by the pace, it was highly unlikely that Sergio could have improved from his P4 position. Red Bull would be hoping to jump ahead of Mercedes as they are on soft and Mercedes on Mediums.
Gasly back in form
Alpha Tauri and Pierre Gasly showed a lot of promise when the season started. However it did not quite convert into good positions and points. Gasly has shown that promise again and he will be starting P5 tomorrow. His team mate Yuki Tsunoda had a crash in FP2 session and did not seems to be in good touch. He will be starting P16.
Lando Norris did not seem to have good practice sessions but he made the most when it mattered. He will be starting P6 tomorrow. His much senior teammate Daniel Ricciardo was a disappointment once again as he failed to get into Q3.
Roller Coaster for Ferrari
Ferrari’s fortunes keep changing with every session. Charles LecLerc had a fantastic Quali session again and he will be starting P7. Carlos Sainz showed a lot of promise but he crashed in Q2 and ending his hopes of qualifying further. He will be starting P15.
Alpine looking Solid
Both the Alpine drivers managed to get into Q3. Esteban Ocon will be starting P8 and Fernando Alonso, celebrating his 40th birthday this week, will be starting P9.
Sebastian Vettel just managed to squeeze into Q3 and will be starting P10 in the race.
Hungary GP Quali Result : Mercedes on Mediums, Red Bulls on Softs.
It will be a very very interesting start to the race!
