Lando Norris handed McLaren their first pole position of the Formula One 2026 season after taking pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix 2026. The McLarens built on the momentum from Belgium with the defending world champion stealing pole from Lewis Hamilton in Hungary. It was also Norris’ first pole position since the Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025 while current championship leader Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes had a rough Saturday which will see the Silver Arrows start P4 and P7.
If you missed the Hungarian Grand Prix 2026 qualifying session, here’s a quick recap.
Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac, the Williams duo and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin were the first cars out on track to kick off the qualifying session at the Hungarian Grand Prix 2026. Sainz was set to put up the first time of the session but he went wide and off track to abort his lap and it was his teammate, Alex Albon with the first time on the board with a 1:21.596s. Stroll beat it instantly before Fernando Alonso went quickest early on with a 1:20.665s.
The Ferraris were the first front runners on track with Lewis Hamilton going quickest with a 1:18.730s which was a tenth quicker than Charles Leclerc’s opening time. Max Verstappen beat Hamilton’s time as the Red Bull driver’s initial time was 1:18.656s which remained the quickest time with 9 minutes to go as Kimi Antonelli was 0.070s slower than Verstappen. Norris put up the quickest time of the session with a 1:18.277s late on .
As the clock ticked down, it was Williams pair struggling as expected along with the Cadillac duo and Lance Stroll and the Haas of Ollie Bearman all of whom missed out on Q2. Aston Martin’s new upgrades seemed to make a difference as Fernando Alonso took his car to Q2 for the first time in the Formula One 2026 season while Lance Stroll made sure he wasn’t the slowest car on the grid.
Ollie Bearman
Carlos Sainz
Alex Albon
Lance Stroll
Valtteri Bottas
Sergio Pérez
Alonso got his Aston Martin on track first to get Q2 going and his opening time was 1:20.696s. Verstappen quickly dislodged him from the top spot with a 1:18.249s. Kimi Antonelli went even quicker but it was Hamilton breaking into the 1:17s with a 1:17.931s.
Isack Hadjar remained one of the only two to have not set a time with five minutes to go as he spun into the gravel at Turn 12 but once he put in a time, he went quickest with a stunning 1:17.872s lap. As the session drew to an end it was Kimi Antonelli getting himself out of a hole after having his first lap deleted due to track limits but the likes of Liam Lawson, the Alpine pair of Gasly and Colapinton along with Esteban Ocon, Gabriel Bortoleto and Alonso missed out. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad though, continued to impress as he made another Q3 appearance, making it four Q3 appearances in a row.
Liam Lawson
Pierre Gasly
Franco Colapinto
Gabriel Bortoleto
Esteban Ocon
Fernando Alonso
Q3 kicked off with Norris going quickest again with 1:17.320s before Hamilton took the provision pole with a flying 1:17.219s. Leclerc was two-tenths slower than Hamilton while Antonelli was the fastest Mercedes, three-tenths slower than Hamilton while George Russell was struggling, being more than half a second down to Hamilton.
As the cars came out for the final laps, Hamilton was unable to go quicker but no one was able to touch Hamilton’s time until Lando Norris at the very end stole pole position with a 1:17.207s while Verstappen spun late on and Russell’s car stopped on track which ended the session. Norris ended up going 0.012s faster than Hamilton which handed him his first pole position of the season.
1. Lando Norris
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Kimi Antonelli
5. Oscar Piastri
6. Max Verstappen
7. George Russell
8. Isack Hadjar
9. Arvid Linblad
10. Nico Hülkenberg
11. Liam Lawson
12. Pierre Gasly
13 Franco Colapinto
14. Gabriel Bortoleto
15. Esteban Ocon
16. Fernando Alonso
17. Ollie Bearman
18. Carlos Sainz
19. Alex Albon
20. Lance Stroll
21. Valtteri Bottas
22. Sergio Pérez
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