Russell snatches debut pole as Red Bull collapses – 2022 Hungarian GP qualifying

George Russell scored a shock debut pole for the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix as he stole a show which many thought would be lead by Ferrari and Red Bull.

Carlos Sainz had dominated Q3, but saw the Mercedes driver steal the top stop by 0.15sec at the death. Charles Leclerc was just behind his Ferrari team-mate, as Lando Norris impressed to claim fourth.

Red Bull had a torrid session – Sergio Perez was knocked out in Q2, whilst a power unit issue meant Verstappen will only start one place ahead of the Mexican in tenth.

Sebastian Vettel, who had helped his Aston Martin team fix his AMR22 after crashing it in FP3, was hugely disappointed to be knocked out of Q1 in 18th.

Read about the 2022 Hungarian GP qualifying as it happened below.

Q1

The cars headed out under a combination of ominous dark clouds and dazzling sun, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll leading the field out.

It was Kevin Magnussen who ultimately set the first fast lap, 1min 20.388sec, but this was immediately improved upon by a number of cars, the lead one being Lewis Hamilton, who went 0.8sec quicker.

That was soon blasted away by Max Verstappen, who clocked a 1min 19.020sec to hit the top of the timesheets.

Lando Norris then went second, 0.5sec off the Red Bull as Alonso’s 1min 19.823sec was good enough for fifth.

That soon became sixth though as Bottas impressed with a 1min 19.626sec in third. The Finn was then shuffled down the order by the quicker cars of Sergio Perez, George Russell and Carlos Sainz respectively.

The Ferraris had been the last to head out, and Leclerc’s first lap was off the pace, 1.187sec off Verstappen.

Norris then improved to get within 0.2sec of the Dutchman, as times tumbled on the green track.

Hamilton posted the fastest final sector as he clocked a tour 0.124sec off the reigning champion, who then responded by going 0.3sec faster.

Leclerc inserted his Ferrari in between the two, before he was then shuffled down by team-mate Sainz.

Magnussen improved to eighth, and Haas stablemate Schumacher just behind him, the pair 0.6sec off the ultimate pace.

Despite the clouds drawing nearer and nearer the circuit, the surface still seemed to improve – Zhou Guanyu showed this by entering the top five on 1min 18.973sec.

Hamilton hammered home the point by topping the table with a 1min 18.374sec, with Russell just 0.033sec behind him.

When the flag fell, the big name to exit Q1 was Vettel. The German had helped his team rebuild his Aston after crashing in FP3, but it was to no avail – the German’s 1min 19.273sec was only good enough for 18th.

Yuki Tsunoda was the quickest car knocked out, 0.035sec off Lance Stroll’s 15th-placed Aston. Alex Albon apologised to his team for coming home 17th, Pierre Gasly was a disappointing 19th after having his lap deleted for track limits and Nicholas Latifi rounded out the bottom five.

Q2 

The Silver Arrows got out the garage first and Hamilton posted the first hot lap, a 1min 19.063sec.

Russell beat this by 0.15sec, but he was soon knocked off by the two Ferraris, Leclerc on top with a 1min 18.769sec.

Norris then impressed by beating the Scuderia by 0.6sec, the McLaren upgrades appearing to do their job.

Perez could only get within 0.4sec of the McLaren, but it was academic anyway as his lap was deleted for exceeding track limits.

The other Red Bull could do it though, as Verstappen entered the 1min 17s – 1min 17.703sec was his time to go fastest.

Last year’s winner Ocon was third, a second off Verstappen, before his Alpine colleague Alonso went second, 0.2sec off the leading Red Bull.

With six minutes to go Hamilton, who had fallen to 11th, elevated himself to third, 0.332sec off the pace, as his team-mate Russell managed fifth.

Leclerc got close to Verstappen with a 1min 17.03sec with Alonso just behind in third, as cars scrabbled to get a final quick lap on the board with the weather potentially closing in.

“There’s some drops of rains on the back straight,” reported Perez, who was labouring down in ninth. The Mexican was given some reprieve though as his fastest lap, which had been deleted for track limits violation, was reinstated.

Bottas and Ocon then pushed the Red Bull driver into the elimination zone, knocking him out of qualifying by 0.071sec. “******* Magnussen, blocked there,” he said.

Below him was Zhou in 12th, Magnussen in 13th, with Stroll in 14th and Mick Schumacher a disappointing 15th.

Q3

Q3 commenced with all cars immediately going out, and it was Sainz who went fastest on a 1min 17.505sec.

Russell was a surprise second, albeit almost half a second off, with Leclerc a whisker behind and Hamilton 0.6sec off Sainz.

Alonso, who like the two Ferraris and Verstappen had two new sets of tyres to use, was fifth, 0.798sec off the pace.

Verstappen could only manage seventh-fastest, the Red Bull locking up and running wide in Turn 2. As the second runs started, he then reported “I’ve got no power – nothing works,” to his team.

As the second tours filed in, Leclerc went close but not close enough to the Sainz, 0.146sec off, as Norris used his new tyres to go third.

Sainz extended his advantage to 0.146sec, but Russell had other ideas. The Mercedes driver put together an assured lap to stun the field with a 1min 17.77sec.

Norris was also impressive as he came in fourth behind the Ferraris, but third Brit Hamilton’s session ended in disappointment as he was forced to abort his last lap with a DRS issues, leaving him seventh.

Ocon and Alonso scored fifth and sixth for Alpine, as Bottas, Ricciardo and an ailing Verstappen rounded out the top ten.

2022 Hungarian Grand Prix FP2 results