The Briton clinched the first pole position of his career on Saturday at the Hungaroring in significantly cooler temperatures than on Friday, just ahead of the Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. World Championship leader Max Verstappen complained about a loss of performance in the decisive phase and did not get past tenth place.
The day before, Mercedes had been beaten compared to the superior Ferrari. For the “Silver Arrows”, who are still without a win this year, it is the first pole of the year. “I’m really excited. Everyone worked so hard after yesterday,” said Russell, 24. “But there are no points for qualifying.” Leclerc spoke of “extreme problems with the tires”.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez only managed eleventh on the grid. Sebastian Vettel dropped out in the first qualifying section. In the first race after the announcement of his retirement from Formula 1 at the end of the season, the 35-year-old is expected to start from 18th place on the grid.
The last practice session was disrupted by initially heavy rain. Surprisingly, at the end of the session, Canadian Nicholas Latifi set the fastest time on the drying track with intermediate tires. He landed in his Williams 0.661 seconds ahead of Leclerc. In qualifying in dry conditions, Latifi didn’t make it from last place.
The weather on Sunday cannot be predicted with certainty, but it should be a little warmer and rather dry again.
Source: Nachrichten
