Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton celebrated a record-extending and “surreal” 90th career pole position yesterday after a dominant Mercedes one-two in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.
Championship-leading teammate Valtteri Bottas will start alongside the Briton today, with the Mercedes-powered Racing Point cars of Canadian Lance Stroll and Mexican Sergio Perez third and fourth.
Hamilton is favourite to triumph for the eighth time at the Hungaroring and equal a record for most wins at the same grand prix held by retired Ferrari great Michael Schumacher, who won eight times in France.
The pole was his seventh in Hungary, equalling Schumacher’s record for that race, and his Mercedes again looked to be in a class of its own after the team won the opening two rounds in Austria.
“Hungary’s always been a good hunting ground for me but also I’m aware that qualifying isn’t everything here,” said Hamilton, who lapped with a track record time of one minute 13.447 seconds, 0.107 faster than Bottas.
The six-times world champion said he had not realised immediately the significance of a pole that leaves him 22 ahead of Schumacher, the next best qualifier in the history of the sport.
“It feels very, very surreal...it doesn’t seem real to have 90 poles,” declared the 35-year-old, who also has 25 more than his Brazilian boyhood idol Ayrton Senna managed in his F1 career.
Bottas hailed Hamilton for another great job but hoped to reverse the positions on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a bit of a drag race into Turn One between us tomorrow, so I look forward to that; the first lap will definitely be interesting,” he said.
Perez was quicker than Stroll in final practice but the Canadian got the lap that mattered and looked forward to a strong race in the ‘pink Mercedes’, a controversial car very similar to last year’s title-winning Mercedes and under protest by Renault.
The Ferraris followed the two-by-two team trend, with Sebastian Vettel lining up fifth and Charles Leclerc qualifying sixth — a positive after a tough afternoon in Austria last weekend where they collided in the Styrian Grand Prix.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, on pole last year, could only qualify seventh and ahead of the McLaren pair of Lando Norris — third in the championship — and Carlos Sainz.
“I hope this is going to be our worst weekend,” said Verstappen, who felt something was “clearly not working” with his car.
Former champions Williams, who finished last overall in 2019, had something to cheer with both their cars through to the second phase of qualifying for the first time since September 2018. George Russell ended up 12th, and ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon, with rookie team mate Nicholas Latifi 15th.
The session was held without spectators, as at the first two races in Austria, due to the Covid-19 pandemic but some fans still gathered at vantage points on surrounding slopes.


Hungarian GP grid (top 10)
 First row
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
Second row
3. Lance Stroll (Racing Point)
4. Sergio Perez (Racing Point)
Third row
5. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Fourth row
7. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
8. Lando Norris (McLaren)
Fifth row
9. Carlos Sainz Jr (McLaren)
10. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)



Russell starts row by accusing Red Bull of making Albon ‘look like an idiot’
Williams driver George Russell was quickly rebuked by Max Verstappen yesterday after criticising the way Red Bull were treating Alex Albon.
The 22-year-old British driver said he felt that Red Bull had made Albon, a 24-year-old London-born Thai driver “look like an idiot” at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Verstappen hit back saying Russell knew nothing about Red Bull.
“First of all, George doesn’t know anything about the team so I think it’s better if he focuses on his car and his performance instead of speaking for someone else,” said Verstappen, who qualified seventh, six places ahead of Albon.
During the second qualifying session, Albon, in his second season in Formula One, complained on team radio that Red Bull had sent him out to qualify in traffic, an issue he had mentioned before.
Russell came to Albon’s defence.
“I’ve know Alex for the last 15 years, been in the same paddock as him and he is one of the best drivers we all raced,” he said. “All of us were saying he always has been at the front in everything he has done and I don’t know what the hell is going on.
“I feel really bad for him. He’s been made to look like an idiot and he’s absolutely not. He’s won in everything he’s done so I don’t know what’s going on, but they need to sort it out.”
While Verstappen will line up on the fourth row on the grid today after going seventh fastest, Albon was 13th in qualifying, behind Russell in 12th.