McLaren Locks Out Front Row in Hungary as Perez’s Struggles Continue

Lando Norris leads an all-McLaren front row in Hungary while Sergio Perez's struggles persist.

Lando Norris secures the top spot for McLaren in the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, with Lewis Larkam reporting from Budapest.

Lando Norris led McLaren to secure their first front row lockout in qualifying in 12 years at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, while Sergio Perez’s struggles persisted.

Lando Norris narrowly beat his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by a mere 0.022 seconds, securing his third pole position in an exciting and closely contested qualifying session that was nearly disrupted by light rain. This achievement represents the first instance since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix where McLaren cars have taken both the first and second spots in qualifying.

Norris expressed immense joy in parc ferme, saying, "I'm extremely pleased. It was a challenging qualifying session with varying conditions, but finishing first is the most rewarding aspect. It's particularly gratifying for the team, and securing a one-two finish makes it even more special. Congratulations to the team."

"We're already confident, so we don't feel the need to seek out more. We've arrived this weekend feeling positive and assured from our recent performances. We believe we have a strong car capable of competing for pole position, and we proved that today."

"We're perfectly poised to handle any situation that comes our way. With both of our cars starting at the front, we have the advantage of controlling the race. If we maintain our positions, we'll be satisfied."

Max Verstappen, driving an enhanced Red Bull, finished just 0.046 seconds behind Norris' pole time, securing third place on the starting grid.

In the meantime, his Red Bull teammate Perez experienced another challenging qualifying session.

Facing growing pressure to keep his position, the Mexican driver crashed into the Turn 8 barriers after losing control in wet conditions during the first qualifying session.

Perez was unable to continue participating in the session and will begin the race at 16th place or lower, depending on any penalties for the damage incurred.

Carlos Sainz secured the fourth position, trailing by approximately four-tenths of a second, while Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton took fifth place, followed by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Fernando Alonso led his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll to secure the seventh position, while the Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 in an uncommon double Q3 showing.

A significant accident involving Tsunoda led to the halting of Q3 with a red flag, with a little more than two minutes remaining. However, once the session resumed, Ricciardo was the only driver able to better his time.

Nico Hulkenberg narrowly missed securing a place in Q3, falling short by only 0.010 seconds, and ended up in 11th position for Haas. He finished ahead of Sauber's Valtteri Bottas.

Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant of the Williams team finished in 13th and 14th places, respectively, while Kevin Magnussen secured 15th position driving the other Haas.

George Russell faced an unexpected exit in Q1 after a messy performance resulted in him securing only the 17th spot on the starting grid.

The Mercedes driver struggled to gain the necessary improvement in challenging conditions, while other competitors managed to improve their times in the final moments of the session.

"Apologies for this session, everyone. It's my fault," Russell admitted over the team radio.

Zhou Guanyu secured the 18th position for Sauber, finishing ahead of Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. The Alpine drivers ended up at the bottom of the rankings after their strategy to remain in the pits during the final laps went disastrously wrong.

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