Lando Norris secured pole position in Qualifying at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP, setting a 1:17.207 to lead Hamilton and Leclerc at the Hungaroring.
Ferrari controlled Friday’s running, with Charles Leclerc topping FP1 despite losing drive late in the session before Lewis Hamilton led a Ferrari one-two in FP2. Lance Stroll’s suspected suspension failure and Franco Colapinto’s crash caused red flags across the two sessions. Lando Norris then set the pace in the warmer FP3 conditions, finishing ahead of Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli, while a rear-brake fire on Sergio Pérez’s Cadillac triggered another brief red flag before qualifying.
Norris controlled Q1 as Alonso went through to his first Q2 in the 2026 season
Fernando Alonso became the first driver to set a flying lap, recording a 1:20.665, while track limits cost Carlos Sainz his opening effort during Qualifying at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP. Hamilton then set the benchmark on the medium tyres with a 1:18.730 before Max Verstappen moved ahead with a 1:18.656. Norris responded shortly afterwards, using a strong first sector to take the top spot with a 1:18.277. Leclerc also showed competitive pace, but track limits deleted his first lap.
With six minutes remaining, most of the field returned to the pits, briefly leaving the track clear. Gabriel Bortoleto still had no time on the board after losing his previous lap to track limits, while Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Ollie Bearman, Valtteri Bottas and Pérez occupied the drop zone.
Bearman initially improved to P15, but faster laps from Colapinto and Pierre Gasly pushed him back into the elimination places. Bearman, Sainz, Albon, Stroll, Bottas and Pérez were knocked out at the end of Q1, while Alonso progressed to Q2 for the first time in the 2026 season.
Norris back on top after Hadjar spin and Antonelli scare
Verstappen was the first of the remaining 16 to set a benchmark lap around the Hungaroring with a 1:18.249. During a flying lap, Isack Hadjar spun and briefly brought out the yellow flags in Q2 of Qualifying at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP but recovered the car and returned to the pits. Norris tried to beat the time from Verstappen, though the yellow flag slowed him down as he put himself behind the Dutchman. Meanwhile, Antonelli set a new fast lap, putting himself on top for a short time, until Hamilton claimed that spot, being the first one to beat Norris’ FP3 time.
With around 5 minutes left on the clock, Gasly, Colapinto, Ocon, Alonso, Hadjar and Bortoleto were the six drivers in the elimination zone, though only Alonso and Hadjar used the empty track to try and improve up into the top 10. Alonso was able to improve himself up into P10, putting Nico Hülkenberg potentially out of Q2. Meanwhile, Hadjar used his pace as he put in the fastest lap so far, putting himself up to P1 with a 1:17.827, pushing Alonso out of the top 10.
With two minutes remaining, track limits at Turn 7 cost championship leader Antonelli his lap time, putting him under pressure to deliver a clean final effort. He recovered to secure P7, while Norris reclaimed the top spot with a 1:17.456. Lawson, Gasly, Colapinto, Bortoleto, Ocon and Alonso were eliminated in Q2.
Norris puts it on pole after Verstappen spins and Russell stranded on track
With Q3 underway for the top 10, Norris set the first benchmark time with a 1:17.320 as he once again set the fastest lap of the session. Though Hamilton was fast around the Hungaroring as he went to beat the time from Norris with a gap of 0.101 seconds. While Hamilton held the fastest time in the first and last sectors, Norris still held the top time for sector 2, who needed to correct an oversteer out from the last corner, losing 2 tenths to Hamilton. Championship leader Antonelli could only put his Mercedes into P4 during the first run of Q3 in Budapest, while his teammate found himself in P7 before the whole grid went back into the pits ahead of the last few minutes of Qualifying at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP.
With 2 and a half minutes left on the track, the whole grid went back out on track for at least one lap each. Hamilton was the first to start his flying lap, followed by teammate Leclerc, though the drivers in red couldn’t beat their own personal best times, including Hamilton’s last flying lap. Championship leader Antonelli did improve his lap, though he couldn’t be fast enough as Verstappen spun on track, meaning yellow flags in the last sector. Meanwhile Russell seemed to have a technical problem as the Mercedes stopped on track, being unable to move on.
Norris was able to improve his time putting in the pole lap with a 1:17.207, giving him his first pole position of the season as an F1 world champion.
