Hamilton Secures Season’s First Pole Position at Hungarian GP, Defeating Verstappen

After a break last weekend, Formula One returned this weekend for the 12th round of the season, i.e. Hungarian Grand Prix, being held at the 4.381 km long Hungaroring in Mogyoród. Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton currently holds the record for the most wins at the Hungarian GP (eight), while it was reigning Champion Max Verstappen that took a win at last year’s race around the Hungaroring.

It was Hamilton who managed to take pole position at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, going 0.003s quicker than Max Verstappen in the final qualifying. Take a look at how the Qualifying went down at the 2023 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix –

2023 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying 1
For the first time in his career, Zhou Guanyu led the first qualifying, ahead of Max Verstappen. Sergio Perez was on third, while Ferrari drivers Sainz and Leclerc finished fourth and fifth respectively. Albon, Tsunoda, Russell, Magnussen, Sargeant were the five drivers who were eliminated in the first qualifying of the day.
2023 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying 2
The second Qualifying was led by Lando Norris, followed by Lewis Hamilton on second, and Max Verstappen on Third. Valtteri Bottas finished fourth, with Oscar Piastri on fifth. Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly did not make it to the final qualifying, and will be lining up from 10th to 15th in tomorrow’s race respectively.

2023 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying 3
With a lap time of 1:16.609, Lewis Hamilton took his first pole of the season, 0.003 seconds quicker than Verstappen. McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished third and fourth respectively. Zhou Guanyu starts the GP on fifth tomorrow, ahead of Charles Leclerc on sixth and teammate Bottas on seventh. Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg will be lining up on 8th, 9th and 10th on the grid respectively.
Stay tuned to TOI Auto for the full 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix race report tomorrow!