By Robert Haile
It has been a long season so far for Mercedes fans as the team have struggled to match Ferrari and Red Bull.
The challenging for race wins could be returning as George Russell put his Mercedes on pole position.
Silver Arrow driver Russell said: “I’m over the moon and absolutely buzzing. Yesterday was disastrous for us and probably the worst Friday of the season.
“The team was working so hard last night and we were able to make a big step forward. In Formula 1 there are so many fine margins and when you get in that perfect window, your car will just fly, which we managed to do in today’s conditions.
“We didn’t know what direction to go in but on the last lap I came across the line, looked at the screen and saw we went P1, which was such an incredible feeling.
“We need to look into our performance from today and understand where it came from. We have a few ideas, but don’t fully understand it yet.
“Getting this result today is really huge for all of us. I’m so happy for the whole team and we will do our best to have a great day tomorrow and give it our all.”
A damp track made for an interesting first qualifying session as AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda missed out by 0.035 seconds.
After announcing his retirement from the sport Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel finished eighteenth with Alex Albon’s Williams in seventeenth.
The second AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly finished nineteenth as Nicholas Latifi Williams finished twentieth.
In the second session both Haas went out with Kevin Magnussen in thirteenth and Mick Schumacher in fifteenth.
Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin fourteenth and Alfa Romeo‘a Zhou Guanyu in twelfth.
In the shock of the session as Red Bull driver Sergio Perez went out in eleventh after having a lap deleted and then reinstated.
In the top ten shoot out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen struggled with power issues leaving him in tenth.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo took ninth with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas eighth and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in seventh.
Fifth and sixth went to Alpine as Esteban Ocon out qualified Fernando Alonso.
Russell claimed pole and will have Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari next to him with Charles Leclerc behind him in third and Lando Norris’s McLaren in fourth.
After last years surprising race win for Esteban Ocon anything could happen.
Hungarian Grand Prix Grid
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Vallteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
- Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Mick Schumacher (Haas)
- Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Sebastian Vettel (Aston Marin)
- Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
- Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
THE HERDWICK NEWS 