Lewis Hamilton smashes Hungaroring lap record en route to 90th career pole

Hungarian Grand Prix

Hamilton smashes Hungaroring lap record en route to 90th career pole

The reigning champion beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.107s

Ian Parkes

Saturday 18 July 2020 16:07 Updated: 16:13

Lewis Hamilton smashed the Hungaroring lap record in claiming the 90th pole position of his Formula 1 career for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

The six-time F1 champion was already the record holder with a lap of one minute 14.5secs, but Hamilton blitzed that by just over a second with a time of 1:13.447s,

It was Hamilton's seventh pole at the Hungaroring and leaves him in the optimum position to equal Michael Schumacher's of eight wins at a single circuit. Hamilton has won seven times in Hungary; Schumacher was victorious eight times at Magny Cours.

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The 35-year-old Briton beat team-mate Valtteri Bottas by a tenth of a second, with the controversial Racing Points of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez on the second row, with the duo split by just under two-tenths of a second but a long way adrift of Mercedes.

The quartet will all start on the medium-compound tyre as their best lap times in Q2 were posted on that rubber, which is racier and more durable than the soft, and will be used by those behind them.

Ferrari at least displayed a return to form in some respects as Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc wlll line up fifth and sixth, followed by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz in eighth and ninth.

Pierre Gasly, who missed the entire FP1 session with a sensor issue, encountered further problems with his power unit in Q2, that led to him unable to take part in Q3.

The Frenchman, however, set a superb time on his first flying lap in Q2 that allowed him to scrape into Q3, and he will line up 10th ahead of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo.

A highlight of the session was the fact Williams managed to get both of its cars in Q2 for the first time since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix, with George Russell to start 12th and team-mate Nicholas Latifi 15th.

Russell missed out on a place in the top 10 by just under two-tenths of a second, highlighting the considerable improvement made by Williams.

The major casualty in Q2 was Alex Albon, who has been far from happy with his Red Bull all weekend due to a lack of grip and balance, and after qualifying 13th, complained to his team about them sending him out in traffic.

In a disappointing session for Renault, Esteban Ocon starts 14th ahead of the highly commendable Latifi, who made it into Q2 for the first time in his rookie season.

The opening 18-minute Q1 was a pulsating affair as the circuit evolved throughout, coming to the drivers in the closing minutes, while they were also aided by ideal air and track temperatures.

At one stage the likes of Albon, Verstappen and Vettel were all on the bubble, but ultimately they managed to save themselves with comfortable times.

The fact the two Williams' cars both made it out of Q2 spiced up matters, with Latifi edging out Kevin Magnussen in his Haas by 0.047s, leaving the Dane lining up in 16th ahead of AlphaTauri's Daniel Kvyat and team-mate Romain Grosjean.

For Alfa Romeo, the session was a disaster as Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen will line up on the back row, a dramatic fall from grace for the 2007 world champion.

Before you go...

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