Budapest: George Russell of Mercedes claimed his first pole position when topping the times in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix today.
The British driver posted a sensational final flying lap to edge out Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari and McLaren’s Lando Norris are on the second row for tomorrow’s 13th round of the 22-race season.
Max Verstappen, who leads the world championship by 63 points from Leclerc, could manage only 10th.
Worst Friday
After qualifying in pole position Russell said, “I am over the moon, absolutely buzzing, yesterday was probably our worst Friday of the season and everyone last night was working so hard, we didn’t really know what direction to go in. But that last lap I got round Turn One, Turn Two, and the lap times just kept on coming. I came across the line and looked at the screen and saw P1 and it was an incredible feeling."
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who qualified second, said, “Today I felt I had the chance to get a pole position, it just went away from us. George must have done a pretty good lap. We have the pace and obviously the start and tyre management will play a key role as always. The Mercedes’ pace is a bit unknown and we have to see how the race pans out tomorrow but it will be an exciting race.”
