F1 Hungarian Grand Prix LIVE RESULTS: George Russell takes POLE, Vetterl OUT in Q1, Perez OUT in Q2

Big moment for Russell

Like most F1 drivers, George Russell was likely dreaming of his first pole and first win before he had even completed puberty.

Today he does the former with a brilliant lap, and becomes the 3rd driver this season to claim their first pole (following Perez in Saudi Arabia in March and Sainz at Silverstone at the beginning of this month).

The result also means Russell is the 105th polesitter in F1 history.

Dream for Mercedes

Mercedes hadn’t been on pole all season but they’ve ended that now after a whopping lap from George Russell.

Given the fact that the Silver Arrows have had good race pace all season, there’s no reason they can’t win the race tomorrow with a bit of luck.

We could be in for another belting race in Hungary with Sainz and Leclerc directly behind Russell, Norris in 4th, Hamilton in 7th behind both Alpines and the two Red Bulls – including Championship leader Max Verstappen – needing to hustle their way to the front of the grid.

Punchy words from polesitter George Russell

“I’m over the moon, absolutely buzzing. Yesterday was probably our worst Friday of the season and then [today] the last lap was mega and the lap time just kept on coming.

“And then I came across the line saw we were P1.

“We need to look into it and see where [that pace] came from. We generally have good race pace and we’ll be absolutely going for it.”

What a grid

So many stories on this grid after qualifying with so many drivers out of position

What a Q3

In a dramatic Q3, George Russell has stuck it on pole but so much more happened.

Lewis Hamilton had a DRS issue and so had to pit instead of doing his final lap. He’ll start P7.

Max Verstappen’s Red Bull ran out of power, and he’ll start 10th, only a place ahead of his teammate.

The Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc are 2nd and 3rd respectively, and Sainz will be wondering how he didn’t claim pole.

Wow

Incredible

For the first time in his Formula 1 career, George Russell is on pole! Who saw that coming??

No power

Max Verstappen has reported having “no power” as he leaves for his outlap.

The race engineers are trying to help him fix it but this could be it for Verstappen. If he can’t get the car to start working again, he will qualify 7th at best.

Q3 First Runs

Carlos Sainz is on provisional pole and incredibly George Russell has popped himself into p2 for the time being. Who would have predicted this as a top two?

Leclerc is 3rd after the first run, Hamilton 4th, Alonso 5th, Norris 6th, Verstappen only 7th after he made a mistake, Ocon 8th, Bottas 9th, Ricciardo 10th.

No cars on the track as they retire to the garage before having one final run to try and set their fastest time. Things looking very good for Sainz at the moment.

The Fight for Pole

So in Q3 we have both Ferraris, both Mercedes, both McLarens, both Alpines, the one Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas and his Alfa Romeo.

So far this season Charles Leclerc has picked up the most poles by some distance, with Verstappen in second. Perez and Sainz both have one each.

Could we have a new polesitter today? Perhaps a man who has already gotten pole eight times at this track like Sir Lewis Hamilton?

Q3 is now underway.

End of Q2

Along with Perez, we’ve lost both Hasses, the Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.

Meanwhile, no since of a downpour of rain coming in Q3 despite reports of droplets hitting the track at the end of Q2.

Sergio Perez is out!

The Red Bull driver has had a shocking qualifying session and hasn’t made it out of the bottom 5

There was some confusion over a deleted lap time which was then rescinded, but none of that matters now. Perez is set to start 11th tomorrow in a big blow to Red Bull.

This is the sixth consecutive year he has gone out at Q2 in Hungary.

Rain alert

“Some drops of rain on the back straight”, Sergio Perez tells his race engineers on team radio.

No rain visible with the naked eye over the TV cameras at the moment, but that would make things very interesting in Q3 when the remaining 10 drivers fight for pole.

5 mins to go

Alonso is currently second quickest, with Ocon 6th. Good pace showed by Alpine.

Hamilton and Russell are currently fighting their way from the drop zone, with the seven-times World Champion now 3rd fastest and his teammate Russell 5th fastest.

Ferrari back on the pace

Ferrari look quick again on the first runs of Q2, as Leclerc and Sainz go 2nd and 3rd respectively.

But hold on a second – Lando Norris has just gone top of the time sheets on fresh tyres.

But he is quickly dispatched by Verstappen who is now quickest.

About 9 minutes to go in this session.

Rain watch

The clouds appear to be getting lighter, and there is currently no sign of rain.

So as we begin Q2 we march on in dry conditions which the Mercedes team – who looked horrendous in the wet this morning – will be delighted with.

Meanwhile, at the top

Very interesting as at the end of Q1 the two fastest cars are the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Carlos Sainz is 3rd and Max Verstappen 4th.

At this stage these times don’t mean much, but it will be a boost of confidence for the Silver Arrows that they can fight for pole in about 30 minutes.

End of Q1

Nicholas Latifi set a purple sector 1 (what is going on with him today?) but his next two sectors aren’t fast enough, and he qualifies 20th.

Gasly has had another shocking qualifying, continuing a theme this season, and he’ll start 19th.

On the week he announced his retirement, Vettel can only qualify 18th. Albon qualifies 17th, with Tsunoda 16th.

Lance Stoll has just survived and makes his way into Q2.

OUT: Tsunoda, Albon, Vettel, Gasly and Latifi

Final push

The chequered flag has fallen, meaning that the next time the cars past the line they will be onto their final lap.

It’s make or break time, and the bottom 5 at the moment is Vettel, Latifi, Albon and Stroll and Tsunoda.

Final stages

Laps times are improving rapidly, and virtually every team in the bottom 5 is finding huge improvements.

Zhou Guanyu, for example, had been in the bottom 5 but put in a lap so quick it propelled him into the top 5.

Fewer than 3 minutes before the chequered flag falls, and the falling lap times means that very few drivers are safe from the drop.

Bottom 5 so far

Remember we lost the five slowest cars from Q1. So far the slowest five with 6 minutes to go is:

Zhou, Latifi, the Aston Martins of Stroll and Vettel and Mick Schumacher. But still a long way to go.

Slow Ferraris

The famous Italian team have looked quick all weekend, but they were unconvincing on their first run around Hungary in Q1.

Sainz was only quick enough for p4, while Leclerc was only p10.

11 minutes to go

Still a chunk of time to go but a clearer picture is emerging.

Gasly, Vettel and Tsunoda among the slowest so far of the cars that have set lap times.

Lando Norris looking quick again and he’s put his McLaren in P2 for now.

Big guns out early

Often in Q1 you will see some of the faster cars just waiting in the garage until they get some more clear track.

But with the threat of rain lingering over this qualifying session, we’re seeing many of the fastest cars out early.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is quickest so far, followed by the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and then the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

The two Ferrari cars have just left the pit garage.

Dark clouds

Look at the ominous clouds hanging over the Hungary circuit at the moment.

Surely we’ll see rain over the next hour…

Ready to go

The green light at the end of the pit lane is about to go out and qualifying will soon get underway .

The track is fairly dry at the moment after the deluge of rain that we saw in the final practice session.

There could be some rain over the next hour which will help spice things up, but otherwise we expect one of the Ferraris or Max Verstappen to be on pole based on what we’ve seen so far this season.

Here we go.