20/07/2024
NEWS STORY
Ahead of Q1 the air temperature is 24 degrees C, while the track temperature is 29 degrees.
Things were already looking to be spicy, when, about an hour before the start of the session it began to rain. Nothing too dramatic, but it certainly affected the F2 Sprint and could well impact this opening phase, especially if the previously laid rubber has been washed away.
Lando Norris led a McLaren 1-2 earlier, but for the true pecking order one would have to take some wild guesses.
Red Bull and Aston Martin have had minimal running on the softs, which, it would appear, are only good for one lap.
Though the McLarens are dominating, as one moves through the order no other team appears to be completely settled with one driver clearly a lot happier with his car than his teammate, Leclerc and Hamilton being the best examples of those not at ease.
Added to this, and let's be clear there are unknowns such as fuel loads etc, we had drivers like Ricciardo, Albon and Hulkenberg out-pacing Hamilton and Leclerc.
Add in traffic - which is always an issue here - and a clampdown on track limits, which go unpoliced in the previous sessions, and you have the possibility of some major shocks today... which is not the sort of thing the likes of Perez or Sargeant want to hear.
Then again, the damp and cooler conditions will be good news for Mercedes which has never run well in warmer climes.
In the moments before Q1 the rain intensifies as Race Control declares it a "wet track", which, based on the previous three sessions - not to mention the forecasts - isn't something we expected to type this weekend.
The lights go green and Hulkenberg leads the way, followed by Magnussen, Bottas, Zhou and Gasly, all are on softs.
As Hulkenberg begins his flying lap, the rain appears to cease.
Hulkenberg posts a benchmark 20.585, but this is soon beaten by Zhou, Bottas, Magnussen and Tsunoda (18.435).
Piastri is advised that he will have time for one lap before there is further rain.
Sargeant goes quickest with a 17.770, as teammate Albon goes second (18.378).
Alonso splits the Williams pair with an 18.282 as Piastri crosses the line at 17.504.
Sainz stops the clock at 17.244, while Verstappen goes fifth and Perez sixth.
Quickest in the first two sectors, Hamilton goes quickest with a 17.087.
Sargeant goes off at Turn 1 and lightly clouts the barrier, bringing out the yellow flags.
Norris goes fourth,. Ahead of Sargeant, Verstappen, Perez and Albon.
Ocon goes tenth but his teammate remains in the drop zone, along with Magnussen, Ricciardo, Zhou and Hulkenberg.
Verstappen goes third while Leclerc can only manage ninth.
The rain returns and intensifies.
Gasly improves to eleventh with an 18.166.
Norris is told the rain will continue until the end of Q1.
Russell runs wide and fails to improve on 14th.
Leclerc improves to eighth as Verstappen insists that he can't improve.
At which point Perez is off and into the barriers, causing the session to be red-flagged.
He lost the rear of the car in Turn 8 after running over the damp kerb and from then on was simply a passenger.
At the time of the off he was 9th which begs the question why was he pushing. Concerned by the rain, his teammate - who was told to "calm down" - insisted that he couldn't improve in the conditions and consequently pitted.
Sadly, that off could have cost Perez his career.
"Low grip conditions," warns Race Control, and with 6:45 remaining, and the rain intensifying, this is a big worry for Ricciardo, Stroll, Magnussen, Zhou and Hulkenberg. On the other hand, it may have done Russell a favour.
The session resumes and the Stake pair lead the way, followed by Russell. They are subsequently joined by Albon and Sainz.
Zhou remains 19th while his teammate fails to improve on 15th. Russell remains 14th.
On his next flying lap Russell posts a PB in S2, the Mercedes driver improving to tenth with a 17.968.
So, there is room for improvement... and as a result a load more drivers head out, including Hamilton.
Its drivers 11th and 13th, Alpine takes a gamble and stays put.
Verstappen goes quickest in S2, crossing the line at 17.087 to go second.
Sainz goes third and Leclerc fourth, but Stroll demotes the Monegasque with a 17.405,
Ricciardo goes quickest (17.050), as Albon goes fifth, Tsunoda eighth and Bottas tenth.
Magnussen goes fifteenth, which drops Perez and Russell into the danger zone along with the alpine pair. Down in thirteenth, Norris had a lucky escape.
Quickest is Ricciardo, ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Albon, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Tsunoda, Leclerc and Bottas.
We lose Perez, Russell, Zhou, Ocon and Gasly.
"Sorry about that session guys, that was on me," says Russell. That said, in a separate transmission he queried why he wasn't given more fuel. In order to complete more laps.
"Two factors," Russell subsequently tells Sky Sports, "the first one I didn't do a good enough job in the beginning, and the next one was we didn't have enough fuel to complete the session. It was a disaster from both aspects, we should have got through from that last lap but we didn't have enough fuel. "
Sainz gets Q2 underway, the Spaniard beginning his flying lap on a totally clear track.
The rain has stopped, the track is dry, consequently Sainz posts a 17.028.
Hamilton heads down the pitlane, followed by Verstappen, Bottas and the Haas pair.
Soon all bar Ricciardo, Leclerc and Norris are on track.
Hamilton posts a 16.544 on used softs, while Verstappen responds with a 15.770 on fresh rubber... much to the delight of the Orange Army.
Magnussen goes third (16.725) but is demoted as Stroll and then Piastri (15.785) go quicker.
Alonso goes third with a 16.165.
Tsunoda goes seventh and Sargeant 11th, but both are demoted when Norris goes fourth with a 16.253.
A 16.370 sees Leclerc go fifth.
Sainz improves to fourth with a 15.885.
Ahead of the final assault the track falls silent. Bottas, Sargeant, Albon, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo comprise the danger zone.
Fun and games in the pitlane as his rivals refuse to allow Hulkenberg into the queue. "We're getting done here," he complains.
Hamioton can only manage sixth... is it enough?
Stroll goes fourth with a 16.075, as Albon goes ninth and teammate Sargeant tenth.
Ricciardo goes sixth and Leclerc fourth, demoting Hamilton to ninth.
Alonso remains sixth as Norris goes quickest with a 15.540.
Tsunoda goes eighth as Verstappen aborts his lap in the final sector.
Both Haas drivers fail to improve their positions, thereby allowing Hamilton to make it through by the skin of his teeth.
Quickest is Norris, ahead of Verstappen, Piastri, Sainz, Leclerc, Stroll, Alonso, Tsunoda, Ricciardo and Hamilton.
We lose Hulkenberg, Bottas, Albon, Sargeant and Magnussen.
"It's a joke," complains Hulkenberg, "they won't move!" Of course, he is referring to his pitlane issues.
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Hungaroring here.
Ahead of Q3, Laurent Mekies reports the possibility of further rainfall.
Verstappen is first out for the final phase, followed by Piastri, Sainz, Hamilton and Leclerc.
"Make that lack of a tow count," Verstappen is told.
"The second run could be affected by rain, so this could be the one," Alonso is warned.
Verstappen posts a benchmark 15.555.
Piastri responds with a 15.863 and Sainz a 16.204.
Hamilton crosses the line at 15.919, while Leclerc posts a 15.905.
Alonso goes firth with a 16.043, as Norris goes quickest in S2. At the line he stops the clock at 15.227, 0.328s up on Verstappen.
As Stroll goes eighth (16.244), ahead of the RB pair, the rain arrives.
Anticipating worsening conditions it's a quick turnaround for the drivers as the final assault gets underway. Piastri leads the way.
The Australian goes quickest in S1, however Verstappen goes quicker.
At the line Piastri posts a 15.249, while Verstappen responds with a 15.273... however the session is red-flagged as Tsunoda has crashed.
Replay shows him running wide as he exited Turn 5 and hit the barriers after running over the grass. It's a sizeable shunt, the RB damaged at the front and rear.
The clock is stopped at 2:13.
Currently it's: Norris, Piastri, Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc, Alonso, Stroll, Tsunoda and Ricciardo.
"They are going to restart the session," Norris is told as Piastri is warned that "others will try to race you on the out lap... and we do want to start this lap."
Meanwhile, Verstappen is out of his car and doesn't look to be taking any further par in this session.
"Despite being instructed not to allow other drivers to pass, Piastri is warned not to risk a penalty for impeding.
The session resumes at 17:21 and Norris leads the way... as Ricciardo looks to find a way past his teammate. Stroll is ahead of the two Ferraris, with Alonso, like Verstappen, opting not to run.
"Overtake Piastri," Ricciardo is told. Which is easier said than done.
Norris begins his flying lap, but is well off the pace. Sainz pits.
Ricciardo posts a PB in S1 and again S2 but he is the only driver looing likely to improve.
The Australian improves to ninth, ahead of his RB teammate.
So, Norris will start from pole, ahead of Piastri, Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc, Alonso, Stroll, Ricciardo and Tsunoda.
Hulkenberg will start eleventh, ahead of Bottas, Albon, Sargeant, Magnussen, Perez, Russell, Zhou, Ocon and Gasly.
"I tried," says Verstappen. "The whole weekend we have been a little bit behind and that was the case in qualifying. It just wasn't enough.
"It's difficult to pin-point why that is," he adds. "P3 is still very close, we just have to hope the car is good in the race.
"I love competition," he smiles, "but I would like to be on top of the competition, but at the moment I feel we are chasing, and I don't back out of a fight but it's trickier I guess.
"With the rain today, tomorrow should be a different day and I just hope that will help us"
"It's cool to be here," adds Piastri, "especially when you get a result like this... the first 1-2 for McLaren in qualifying for a very long time.
"We had a tricky day on my side yesterday so it was nice to bounce back," he adds.
"Qualifying wasn't easy, there were a lot of decisions on the fly, so it's nice to end up where we've ended up.
"I'm happy with my day's work," he grins, "it's a long run down to Turn 1, so all still to play for."
"Not an easy qualifying," says pole-man Norris, "but happy, and a 1-2 is even better.
"We've come into this weekend and the last few happy and confident we can fight for pole and that's exactly what we've done.
"We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us tomorrow."
Other than McLaren, not quite what we were expecting, and the rain, not to mention the red flag, mixed things up even more.
Another dreadful day for Perez, and then there's Russell, while Leclerc also continues to disappoint.
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Hungaroring here.