Max Verstappen secures first pole: 'Today was important'

Max Verstappen

Verstappen secures first pole: 'Today was important'

Huge for the Dutchman!

Matthew Scott

Saturday 3 August 2019 16:37 Updated: 22:22

Max Verstappen said securing his maiden Formula 1 pole position, thanks to his "flying Red Bull", at the Hungarian Grand Prix ticked off a special personal milestone.

Verstappen beat Valtteri Bottas by a hundredth of a second to take Saturday honours for the first time in 93 grand prix outings.

The Dutchman becomes the 100th different pole-sitter in F1 history, while he also secured the first Honda-powered pole since Jenson Button's at the 2006 Australian Grand Prix.

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Verstappen saw chances for pole slip through his fingers in Monaco and Mexico last year and was ecstatic to finally get the job done in Budapest.

"It's incredible," Verstappen said. "This one was still missing.

"The car felt good all weekend, and you know it's always going to be hard in qualifying but we managed to do it. The car was flying out there in qualifying, it was incredible.

"I'm very happy about today. There's still a race to do and that's, at the end of the day, the most important. For me, today was also important - a very nice one - and also a great one for the team."

Bottas will join Verstappen on the front row, with Lewis Hamilton starting in third place, behind the two drivers closest to him atop the drivers' championship.

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