2026 Hungarian GP Qualifying Review
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello and a very warm welcome to the Late Breaking F One podcast presented by me, Ben Hawking. That's right. It's uh this happens once or twice a season, doesn't it, folks? Where I get uh I get to monologue for about thirty minutes in a qualifying review. Um so this is either uh a massive treat for those of you that love this kind of an episode once or twice a year, or for the vast majority of you, sorry. Um And to my voice, I apologize as well for for putting it through putting it through its paces over the next 30 minutes or so. Um, but stick around because we are gonna dissect everything that happened in today's Hungarian GP qualifying session. A very interesting one indeed. I I have to say the Hungara ring always always delivers not only a very interesting qualifying session, but a very close qualifying session.
It's very rare that a driver will walk away from qualifying here with a poll margin of over a tenth of a second. It is usually hundreds, if not thousandths, that separates uh at least the top couple of drivers. That's kind of what we've got here today. Um, because for the first time In twenty twenty six. at least in normal Grand Prix conditions, um, we don't have a Mercedes on pole. Uh Antonelli and Russell almost all the way to the summer break uh had been able to lock out pole positions so far this year. But not quite to be. Uh Lando Norris for McLaren taking the pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton for Ferrari. Meaning, not only is there a Mercedes not on pole position, not only is there a Mercedes not on the front row of the grid, but if you were watching the post-qualifying interviews that are done where they look towards the top three, again, you will see no Mercedes presence there.
whatsoever, Kimmy Antonelli leading the Mercedes charge, but down in P four. Very unusual for the season that has been unfolding to this point, but an excellent job. From both Ferraris to beat both Mercedes and an even more excellent job from Lando Norris to take the pole position. Makes sense to start there. U I I'll admit, when we were previewing this Grand Prix on Wednesday, McLaren didn't get a lot of airtime. Uh and part of the reason is They haven't shown us too much that indicates that they were going to be in the fight for pole position here, or maybe the fight for the race win tomorrow. Uh, which is why they didn't maybe have the spotlight on them as much as these other teams that have been featuring out front.
For so long this year, we've seen them in a comfortable fourth place in terms of constructors, or a comfortable third place. But it has been rare that. that they have been fighting at the end of Q three four pole position. And even going into qualifying, whilst practice sessions did look pretty good for Lando Norris and for McLaren, it's not the first time we've seen that this year, where they've looked a little bit better maybe on a Friday or a Saturday morning, but then the pace hasn't necessarily faded away by the time we've got to qualifying. But everyone else has managed to up their pace just a little bit more when the times really start to come down. Hmm. Today, Lando Norris was able to keep improving at the same rate of everyone else.
So he was able to take what was uh a leading time in FP three all the way through to that leading time in Q three. And and respect to him, because I believe he was fastest in all three qualifying sessions here. So this isn't an instance where they've they've left it late and and delivered a great lap at the end. And whilst Lando Norris did need to overcome Lewis Hamilton in that final part of qualifying, It isn't out of form either. Q one and Q two, Lando Norris was right there as well. I think maybe the biggest learning from this, of course, uh it it's an interesting one where the track itself is is much more dependent on chassis rather than power unit. But we have seen so far this year Mercedes of course powering McLaren
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–6:13
2
Why was the 2026 Hungarian GP qualifying so unusually close?
6:13–10:04
3
How did Lando Norris secure McLaren’s surprise pole position?
10:04–12:22
4
Why did Mercedes miss the front row for the first time this season?
12:22–12:51
5
What caused Max Verstappen’s frustrating spin in Q3?
12:51–38:41