Overview
- Lando Norris secured pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix with a 1:17.207 final-lap effort that beat Lewis Hamilton by 0.012 seconds in qualifying on Saturday.
- Stewards later handed three-place grid penalties to two front-runners for separate incidents, moving Hamilton down to fifth and championship leader Kimi Antonelli to seventh.
- Max Verstappen spun on the final corner in Q3, which brought yellow flags that disrupted several drivers’ final runs and factored into the stewards’ review of slowing under yellows.
- George Russell stopped on track after qualifying with a reported water leak and Mercedes plans a new power unit for him, a reliability issue that could affect his race performance.
- Aston Martin’s upgraded AMR26 reached Q2 for the first time this season, McLaren showed clear pace with upgrades, and the tightened grid at the low‑overtaking Hungaroring increases the importance of tyre management on race day.