McLaren’s Lando Norris dominated FP3 and Qualifying to take pole position for the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Norris continued his form of FP2 into FP3 as he topped the session from his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and the pair proceeded to lock out the front row in Qualifying.
Qualifying however proved eventful with a damp but fast-drying track due to rain in the preceding hour, amidst two red flags and plenty of surprise results.
FP3
Sauber’s Guanyu Zhou was first out on track followed by Sergio Perez who set a benchmark 1m 19.159 in the fourth minute on hard tyres.
Perez’s Red Bull teammate, Max Verstappen however displaced him with 1m 18.897 too on hard tyres, before he found 0.585 seconds on his next lap, only to then post 1m 17.938 on his third flier.
Williams’ Alex Albon however opted for the soft tyre and found 0.292s on the Dutchman in the 20th minute to go quickest, only for Russell to displace him barely a minute later.
Norris however dislodged Mercedes’ George Russell just moments later with 1m 16.931 and headed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the half-way mark of the session.
Attention soon switched to Qualifying simulations as Russell went top in the 31st minute with 1m 16.826, only to then find 0.262s just 12 minutes later.
Norris however looked in imperious form as he set a session-topping 1m 16.098 with 14 minutes left, ahead of his McLaren teammate – Oscar Piastri by 0.044s.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 16.098 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.044 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.281 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.466 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.541 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 0.554 |
| 7 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.563 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.598 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.646 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.688 |
| 11 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.705 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.706 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.856 |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.903 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.987 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.070 |
| 17 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 1.193 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.401 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.409 |
| 20 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 2.073 |
Qualifying
Q1
Light rain fell in the 50 minutes prior to Qualifying which left the track damp but everyone quickly ventured out on soft tyres, with Hamilton setting the pace on 1m 17.087.
Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Gasly and Zhou meanwhile found themselves in the bottom five, but Bottas and Gasly escaped the drop when the red flag came out in the 11th minute following a spin for Perez at Turn 8.
The session resumed 10 minutes later with Ricciardo, Stroll, Magnussen, Zhou and Hulkenberg sat in the elimination zone as the track dried out.
As the checkered flag fell, Alpine locked out the back row with Gasly starting last behind Ocon, whilst Zhou qualified 18th behind Russell who was a shock Q1 exit in 17th due to under fuelling, with Perez set to start from 16th on the grid.
Ricciardo meanwhile posted 1m 17.050 to top the segment from Hamilton and Verstappen.
Q2
Sainz was first on track and set 1m 17.028 on soft tyres as the benchmark time in the third minute, but his time was beaten by Verstappen three minutes later with 1m 15.770 set on fresh soft tyres.
Once everyone aside from Ricciardo – due to brake issues – set a lap time, the bottom five compromised of; Bottas, Sargeant, Albon, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo.
As the checkered flag fell, Magnussen qualified 15th behind the William pair of Sargeant and Ricciardo, whilst Bottas managed to put his Sauber 12th on the grid just behind Hulkenberg who missed out on Q3 to Hamilton by 0.010s.
Norris topped this segment with 1m 15.540 set on his final flier, as Verstappen and Piastri failed to improve on their fastest laps in the closing minutes.
Q3
Verstappen was first out onto the track amidst fear of rain looming five minutes into the final segment, and the Dutchman proceeded to set a benchmark time of 1m 15.555 in the fourth minute.
Norris however bettered his lap time to go onto provisional pole with 1m 15.227 from Verstappen, with Piastri third ahead of; Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz, Stroll, Tsunoda and Ricciardo.
With rain looming, drivers quickly returned to the track after pitting for fresh soft tyres and Piastri moved up to second but 0.022s shy of Norris’ lap time.
The session was however red flagged with 2m 13s left on the clock, after Tsunoda ran wide onto the grass and clattered into advertising hoardings as drizzle began to fall.
Stewards resumed the session 12 minutes later minus Verstappen who climbed out of the cockpit of his Red Bull, having opted not to participate due to their belief that he wouldn’t improve his time on used softs.
Nobody however could improve except Ricciardo to ninth, whilst Norris claimed his third pole position in F1 as McLaren locked out the front row with Piastri in second.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 15.227 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.022 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.046 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.469 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.627 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.678 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.816 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.017 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 1.220 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 1.250 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1m 16.317 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.067 |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.112 |
| 14 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.226 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.231 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 17.886 |
| 17 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.082 |
| 18 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 0.151 |
| 19 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.163 |
| 20 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.280 |
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