Hamilton, 'pole' by three thousandths at the Hungaroring, where Alonso loses step before McLaren and Alfa Romeo
By three thousandths, in this Hungaroring where he has eight victories, Lewis Hamilton was reunited with the sweet taste of pole position after a year and a half of drought. The scenes of joy in Mercedes, with its leader on the verge of tears, contrasted with the twisted gesture of Red Bull, which in the previous 10 races had only missed one pole position against Ferrari. Things were even worse for Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, eighth and eleventh, both surpassed by the arrival of Alfa Romeo and McLaren.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, third and fourth, confirmed that what was seen a few weeks ago at Silverstone had not been a firework at the Woking team. Even more astonishing was the performance of Guangyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas, fifth and seventh with an Alfa Romeo that had already been showing signs of improvement since the last free session. The progression of both teams has silenced that encouraging spring of Aston Martin. And every week, the gap between Alonso and the podium places gets bigger.
On asphalt at 42ºC, with some slow curves that seemed to favor the AMR23, the Spaniard was never able to compete with the leaders. Neither does Lance Stroll, who will start fourteenth. Some will argue that the new qualifying format, with hard tires in Q1, medium tires in Q2 and soft tires in Q3, disfigures the cars' true potential. Or that the new Pirelli tires favor Alfa Romeo. But the truth is that the decline of Aston Martin is most worrying.
Russell eliminated in Q1
The crudeness of the analysis contrasts with the euphoria of Hamilton, on the verge of hoarseness under the helmet. But at the Hungaroring, despite starting with a deficit of 19 hundredths against Verstappen, he did know how to take advantage of his last bullet.
Friday's free practice had sown the paddock with enigmas and what happened in the morning, with Hamilton ahead of Red Bull, was already a warning. On such a tortuous and broken track, anyone seemed capable of heroics, even from Q1. It was so busy at the front that Norris was startled when one of his laps was erased. Meanwhile, it was already beginning to be perceived that Red Bull's advantage would not be so large at all. And that a slight obstruction could leave even George Russell, author of the 2022 pole position, on the canvas.
No Q3 after 33 races
Fairly fair, Alfa Romeo's provisional lead with Zhou shouldn't scare off favorites in Q2. Verstappen, who had just scored a resounding 1:17.296, found himself in trouble when the lap was crossed out for having exceeded the limits at turn 5. The commissioners seemed to be serious, who also canceled Stroll's time for crossing the white line at turn 12. The next world champion, obviously, had to resort to a new set of yellows to save himself from burning, although without approaching less than two tenths of the lead, in the hands of Norris with his McLaren (1:17.328).
To reach Q3 there were barely 51 thousandths between the seventh (Nico Hulkenberg) and the first eliminated. Unfortunately, Sainz fell to this eleventh place, after a slight error in the last attempt. The sad end to a fantastic run from Madrid, who had reached Q3 in his last 33 races. And a relief for Alonso, who was able to sneak into the top-10 for just two thousandths. The two-time champion could celebrate little else at the Hungaroring.