Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured a McLaren front row lock-out for tomorrow's Hungarian GP in Budapest, the team's first 1-2 on the grid since Brazil in 2012.
Max Verstappen was frustrated to be demoted to third alongside Carlos Sainz, with Lewis Hamilton sharing the third row with Charles Leclerc after light rain in Q1 saw Sergio Perez spin out in the Red Bull.
George Russell had also been caught out by rapidly changing conditions to miss the cut at the end of the first round, while RB's Yuki Tsunoda triggered a late red flag in Q3 with a big accident at the exit of turn 5.
Conditions had certainly changed since the end of Friday practice. It was much cooler and overcast, with light rain for the teams to contend with as they waited on pit lane ready for the start of qualifying for the Hungarian GP.
The rain didn't deter drivers from sticking to the soft slicks. Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were first to set times, and then the Sauber duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo went quicker, and then it was Williams' Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon finding even more pace.
The bigger teams had held back but now McLaren were in action ahead of another forecast burst of rain. Oscar Piastri went top with a time of 1:17.504s a couple of tenths quicker than Lando Norris, and then it was Carlos Sainz briefly on top until quickly deposed by Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen was only sixth in the Red Bull and nearly seven tenths behind. As the rain picked up, Sargeant went astray and glancing the wall at turn 1.
As the track got wetter, Russell was only 11th, but Verstappen improved to third and Charles Leclerc bounded out of the drop zone and into the top ten. Gasly also moved to safety in 12th but both Haas cars were in trouble along with Ricciardo, Zhou and Lance Stroll. Bottas was on the bubble and with eight minutes to go, and Russell had ben pushed down to P14.
Verstappen was getting particularly snippy with his race engineer as they tried to keep on top of the various complexities. But it was Perez who got caught out, losing the rear of the Red Bull on the slippery kerbs and spinning off into the barriers. It triggered a red flag as the heavily damaged RB20 was craned away.
A little under seven minutes remained when the session resumed, the rain briefly increasing in intensity and DRS disabled by race control. Russell dug in and moved up to P10 but conditions were changing rapidly. Suddenly everyone was right on it: Verstappen matched Hamilton's top time until Ricciardo burst out of the elimination zone to go quickest. Albon, Hulkenberg, Stroll and Tsunoda all shot into the top ten.
The flurry of fastest laps dumped Russell out of qualifying along with Perez, Zhou, and the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly who had gambled and lost on the track not improving quickly enough to go out again. "I didn't do a good enough job in the beginning," lamented Russell. "And we didn't have enough fuel to complete the session."
After that drama, it was time for a reset. Carlos Sainz was first out, the Ferrari laying down a marker of 1:17.028s with the track surface already looking bone dry again as the cars mobilised to make the most of the opportunity. Hamilton was next to go top but their times were demolished by Verstappen setting a new time of 1:15.770s on fresh slicks.
Piastri was just 0.015s behind followed by Fernando Alonso (also on fresh tyres) and Lando Norris, the two McLarens having opted for used softs, with Sainz' second run putting the Ferrari into in third.
After a brief lull, the cars were back out for their second runs with Stroll going fifth and Ricciardo seventh. Leclerc deposed Stroll with his own run, and Tsunoda pipped Ricciardo in turn. With Norris going top on 1:15.540s, Hamilton found himself on the bubble in tenth but fortunately for Mercedes, final runs from Bottas, Hulkenberg and Magnussen just fell short. They missed the cut along with the two Williams of Albon and Sargeant.
Conditions were now optimal as the ten remaining drivers headed back out led by Verstappen on fresh softs. The reason for the quick start was revealed when the weather radar flashed a warning about more showers incoming: "Second run could be affected by rain, so this could be the one," the Aston Martin pit wall warned Alonso.
Verstappen asserted initial control of the session with a time of 1:15.555s, three tenths faster than Piastri, Leclerc and Hamilton. Norris was up to the challenge and immediately went top to claim provisional pole with a time of 1:15.227s. Cars came in for fresh tyres but there was no hanging around before they were back for their final flier as light rain arrived.
Piastri and Verstappen improved but remained fractions short of toppling Norris. Sainz moved up to fourth ahead of Hamilton, and Leclerc pushed Alonso and Stroll down to P7 and P8. But then the red flags were out for a huge shunt for Tsunoda who had run wide on the exit of turn 5 and briefly launched into the air by the grass run-off before thudding into the barrier.
Although a little over two minutes remained on the clock, more rain meant no significant improvements were possible when the session resumed. Verstappen didn't even try, thumping his steering wheel in frustration before exiting the cockpit leaving Norris and Piastri clinching a McLaren 1-2 for Sunday's race.
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The post Hungary: Norris and Piastri clinch McLaren 1-2 in rain-hit quali appeared first on F1i.com.
