Hungarian GP qualifying: Lando Norris grabs pole before Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli receive grid penalties | F1 News

McLaren’s Lando Norris wrested Hungarian Grand Prix pole from Lewis Hamilton before the Ferrari driver was relegated to second on the grid with a penalty for obstruction.

Hamilton appeared to be on course for his first Grand Prix pole since the event three years ago after finishing a tenth of a second clear of Norris after his first run in Q3. However, the McLaren driver gained more time on his final lap as his rivals struggled to improve, edging out his compatriot by just 12 thousandths of a second.

It appeared that Norris, who would instead join Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the front row, would have claimed pole regardless, as Hamilton was subsequently demoted from second to fifth on the grid by a penalty for impeding Oscar Piastre’s other McLaren in Q3.

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who leads Hamilton by 45 points at the top of the drivers’ championship, was fourth in qualifying but will start from seventh after receiving a three-place grid penalty in his case for failing to be slow enough under yellow flags.

Piastre was promoted to third, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whose final flying lap spin produced a yellow flag for which Antonelli failed to slow, also jumped two places to fourth.

Despite a continued lack of pace and qualifying only seventh, George Russell will start in sixth ahead of his Mercedes team-mate.

At the end of qualifying Russell stopped on track after his power unit broke, but Mercedes were able to replace the engine for tomorrow’s race without penalizing the Brit.

Reigning world champion Norris’s 17th career pole is his first since the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November last year, and comes on a weekend where McLaren brought a significant upgrade package to a car that had been largely suppressed to this point in 2026.

Norris said: “A tough qualifying. These guys (Ferrari) were very quick. It was tight all weekend but we felt quick from the first laps and we came up with a few upgrades.

“It’s hard to know how much it helps in terms of lap times but it certainly helped today. Very happy to be back on top, especially at a track where you definitely want to be on pole.”

British rookie Arvid Lindblad continued his strong form for Racing Bulls by claiming ninth, while Nico Hulkenberg finished in the top 10 for Audi.

Fernando Alonso provided some encouragement for Aston Martin as he took advantage of his heavily upgraded car to lead the team into Q2 for the first time this season.

Alonso will start 16th after finishing last in Q2, yet the performance marks another important weekend of progress for Aston Martin after the summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix, where engine supplier Honda will also introduce a significant upgrade.

Hamilton’s omission added insult to injury

One thing missing from Lewis Hamilton’s resurgent 2026 campaign with Ferrari was the Grand Prix pole.

The seven-time world champion claimed his first Ferrari Grand Prix victory in Barcelona in June and followed it up with a sprint pole at Silverstone in early July.

At the Hungerring on Saturday, he appeared to be on course to complete a hat-trick of summer wins by claiming pole at the circuit – for Mercedes – in 2023.

After impressing throughout practice and the first two parts of qualifying, Hamilton put himself on provisional pole by beating Norris by a tenth in their first Q3 run.

It was somewhat surprising, given his strong position in the leading times, that Hamilton was sent first among the pole hopefuls for the second and final flying lap, and the decision could not have been more spectacularly reversed.

Whether due to the change in track conditions or otherwise, Hamilton made a mistake in the first corner and several more later as he was unable to improve on his earlier times.

“The last lap was the worst lap, and all the other laps were really good,” Hamilton said. “We obviously had the car on pole today, and it didn’t deliver, so it’s hard to swallow.”

This did not initially appear to be a major problem, as other cars on the track also struggled to improve on their first-run times. However, the last driver to start the lap was the only one with the pace to challenge Hamilton.

Norris seized the moment to lead by the smallest of margins, but worse was to come for Hamilton.

After completing his flying lap, Hamilton was not warned on the radio that Piastre was starting his own flying lap behind him, and swerved into the first corner as the Australian approached.

“I was literally told when he was at the top behind me, so I had no idea he was coming,” Hamilton said. “I thought everybody came out behind me. I was the first one out, so I thought everybody finished the lap.”

The result was a slam-dunk three-place grid penalty, which Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur confirmed was the team’s fault rather than its driver’s fault.

Instead of starting from the front row with a big chance of victory and a significant chunk of Antonelli’s title-race advantage, Hamilton would do well to finish on the podium in Mercedes’ worst weekend of the season so far.

The only consolation in Hamilton’s pursuit of a record eighth world championship is that Antonellio committed an infringement, giving him hope of reducing the Italian’s advantage in the final round before the summer break.

Sky Sports F1’s Hungarian GP schedule

Sunday 26th July
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Hungarian GP Build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: Hungarian Grand Prix*
4pm: Hungarian GP Reaction: Checkered Flag*
5pm: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also on Sky Sports main events

The Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix is ​​in Budapest with Sunday’s race at 2pm and the build-up from 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime