Mercedes’ George Russell snatched a shock maiden pole position in Qualifying for 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz largely dominated a wet FP3 session which saw Russell struggle for tyre temperature, whilst Williams’ Nicholas Latifi unexpectedly topped the session at the very end.
That drama though would be replicated throughout an unpredictable Qualifying as Russell clinched his first pole position in F1 with a last-gasp lap ahead of Sainz and Leclerc.
Now, here is a full roundup of FP3 and Qualifying at the Hungaroring.
FP3
Heavy rain showers following the conclusion of the F3 Sprint Race meant that FP3 began in wet conditions, with Leclerc and Sainz first out on track in the fourth minute on wet tyres.
Sainz proceeded to set the initial benchmark time of 1m 45.569 ahead of Leclerc who responded on his next lap to go top with 1m 43.364, which went unchallenged throughout much of the session as several drivers also opted for the wet tyres except Fernando Alonso on intermediate tyres.
Alonso’s gamble put him third in the 13th minute but Lance Stroll, Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher thereafter displaced him, as the rain returned with increased intensity with 1.792 seconds separating the top three of Leclerc, Sainz and Schumacher at halfway mark of the session.
Vettel then went second in the 32nd minute 0.814s off Leclerc but the track slowly began to dry amidst spins for Pierre Gasly and Leclerc at Turns 7 and 3 respectively, as everyone switched to intermediates with Alonso improving to second with 10 minutes left.
Vettel however brought out the red flag with nine minutes left after he lost the rear end of his Aston Martin at Turn 10 and spun into the barriers, although the session resumed six minutes later as everyone dashed out on intermediates.
Once the checkered flag fell, Nicholas Latifi unexpectedly topped a Practice session for the very first time in F1 with a last-gasp 1m 41.480 to head Leclerc and Alex Albon, as Max Verstappen, George Russell, Alonso, Sainz and Lando Norris rounded out the top eight.
Not everyone however set their quickest laps on the intermediate tyres as Vettel, Kevin Magnussen, Schumacher, Guanyu Zhou, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly in 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, and 19th positions set their best lap times on the wet tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1m 41.480 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.661 |
| 3 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.901 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 1.725 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.954 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 2.090 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 2.109 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 2.263 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 2.698 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 3.175 |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 3.352 |
| 12 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 3.676 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 4.090 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 4.144 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 4.158 |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 4.211 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 4.370 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 4.450 |
| 19 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 4.611 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 6.760 |
Qualifying
Q1
As storm clouds lingered above a dried-out Hungaroring, a majority of drivers headed out early to deliver banker laps across a succession of flying and cooldown laps, with the following five drivers in the elimination zone at the halfway point; Ocon, Vettel, Tsunoda, Gasly and Schumacher.
Track conditions though continue to get quicker across the session which led to a tense finish with only Ocon and Schumacher escaping the drop, out of those who sat in the drop zone mid-session, as Tsunoda qualified 16th ahead of Albon, Vettel, Gasly and Latifi.
Up front, Hamilton unexpectedly topped Q1 with 1m 18.374 although he, Russell and Sainz were eventually split by 0.060s at the checkered flag.
Q2
A hectic start to Q2 saw a mixture of used and new soft tyres in use as Verstappen set the pace with 1m 17.703 ahead of Alonso and Norris, with the Dutchman’s time unbeaten throughout the rest of this session.
The drop zone meanwhile compromised of Hamilton, Stroll, Magnussen, Schumacher plus Perez after the Mexican had his 1m 18.516 deleted for exceeding track limits, although stewards later reinstated the lap time to put Perez tenth with three minutes left.
At the checkered flag amidst drops of rain, only Hamilton survived as Perez failed to improve and was eliminated in 11th ahead of Zhou, Magnussen, Stroll and Schumacher.
Q3
Amidst the threat of rain still lingering, everyone was straight back out to get in a banker lap in case the clouds overhead burst open, with Sainz setting the initial provisional pole time of 1m 17.505 ahead of Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Norris, Verstappen, Ocon, Bottas and Ricciardo.
Russell and Hamilton though ran used soft tyres in their first Q3 run just like they had done at the start of Q2, with Russell’s lap putting him just 0.463s off Sainz.
Ocon was first back out on track for the final runs whilst Verstappen on his outlap reported power-related issues ahead of his final flier, only to report “No power!” as he geared up for his lap.
Sainz meanwhile extended his pole time to 1m 17.421 ahead of Leclerc, Norris, Ocon and Alonso, only for Russell to snatch his maiden F1 pole with 1m 17.377 at the checkered flag which was just 0.044s than Sainz.
Hamilton meanwhile qualified seventh after encountering a DRS issue on his final lap whilst Bottas, Ricciardo and Verstappen rounded out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 17.377 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.044 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.190 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.392 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.641 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.701 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.765 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.780 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.002 |
| 10 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 1.446 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 18.516 |
| 12 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.057 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.309 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.621 |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 0.686 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1m 19.240 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.016 |
| 18 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.033 |
| 19 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.287 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 0.330 |
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