Max Verstappen third after qualifying Hungarian GP: 'Are a bit behind'

Published on 31 July 2021 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen qualified third fastest for the Hungarian GP. The Dutchman did a 1:15.840 as his best time during a very sunny qualifying session on the Hungaroring, but was not able to form a threat to Mercedes who in turn locked out the front row. Lewis Hamilton took the pole home with a 1:15.419 and kept team mate Valtteri Bottas at bay by well over three tenths.

“The whole weekend so far we have been a bit behind and it shows again in qualifying”, says Verstappen after qualifying. “It’s of course not what we want, but nevertheless we are still there in P3. We’ll see what we can do.”

Max will start tomorrow, just like his team mate, on the softs. As opposed to the Mercedes-drivers, who will start the race on the mediums. What does this mean for the strategy? “It’s going to be different, the grip was a bit higher on these tyres”, says the Dutchman. “Of course we’ll find out tomorrow, it’s going to be really hot. So a softer tyre will not last as long as the medium. Nevertheless it will give us a good opportunity off the line.”

This was not the main reason for the choice made in Q2: “The other drivers were also on the soft and they were improving their lap times. My lap time on the medium would have really been on the edge for a top ten. So we decided to finish the lap right.”

Under a clear blue sky qualifying gets underway. Yuki Tsunoda is the first driver to make to the track, followed by Nikita Mazepin and both Alfa Romeos. After a couple of minutes, we see Max Verstappen also head out on track. The Red Bull Racing-driver does a 1:16.214 on his first timed lap. Lewis Hamilton (P2) and Valtteri Bottas (P3) follow at respectively two and four seconds down. Sergio Perez is struggling to follow the pace and is stuck in ninth after two laps. The gap to team mate Verstappen is at the moment no less than an entire second.

Max decides to stay in for the remainder of the session and makes it to Q2 being at the top of the board. Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell, Nicholas Latifi, Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher are the bottom five and don’t make it to the next part of qualifying. The latter never even made it to an actual timed lap due to a crash in the third free practice.

At the start of the second part of qualifying, the Red Bull- and Mercedes-drivers are the only ones on the yellow walled mediums. After the foursome have done their first run, Lewis Hamilton (1:16.553) is at the top of the timesheet, with Max Verstappen (+0.216), Valtteri Bottas (+0.530) and Sergio Pérez (+0.650) behind him. The drivers on the softs quickly manage to get themselves in between the top four.

Moments later things go South for Carlos Sainz, who loses control over his Ferrari in the last corner and crashes. This is the end of the session for the Spaniard who was well on his way to set a fast time. The session is briefly halted after which the teams and drivers are able to continue on. Max ventures out in the dying minutes on a set of the softs and does a 1:15.650 which means that he will start the race tomorrow on the soft compound tyre as oppose to Mercedes. He makes it to Q3 with the fastest lap time behind his name. Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, Kimi Räikkönen, Antonio Giovinazzi and Carlos Sainz are sent to the showers as they were not able to make it to Q3.

In the third and final part of qualifying, Verstappen clocks a 1:15.984 during his first run. This proves to be not enough for the pole, as both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas better that time by a great margin. Moments later Max informs his team that the set of tyres he drove on didn’t have that much grip.

During a second and final attempt, the Dutchman is the only one in the top four to better his time, albeit that he is not able to pose any threat to Lewis Hamilton in getting pole. Valtteri Bottas completes the front row lock out for Mercedes. Sergio Perez was unable to cross the line in time for a second run, but still remains fourth fastest. Just like team mate Verstappen, he will start the race tomorrow on the soft compound tyre.

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Results qualifying Hungary: