Qualifying Highlights | 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

Checker flag is out. This has got to count for Russell. Was 17th, crosses the line, stays 17th. First time this season, George Russell is knocked out in qualifying one. Sebastian Vettel moves up into the top eight. Surely puts himself safely through into Q2. What of Daniel Ricciardo on the cusp at the moment? Stays 13th and that's a worrying lap time really for Daniel Ricciardo. Kimi Räikkönen then next in the Alfa Romeo. Last four races knocked out in Q1. Kimi Räikkönen, can he go ahead? Well, 13th, but he pushes Daniel Ricciardo closer to the drop zone. Antonio Giovinazzi next to cross the line. He stays 15th. That'll be good news for the Australian. Mick Schumacher definitely out of qualifying. Nikita Mazepin will join him. Nicholas Latifi will join him too. George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda completing the five that make their exit out of qualifying. It was nervy moments for Daniel Ricciardo, but he seems to be safely through. Leclerc goes second fastest overall and that is Carlos Sainz at the final corner into the barrier and you can hear the reaction from the crowd. He still managed to keep the engine going, but they have red flagged this session. So that was a combination of the tyres on the rear just raging hot and the wind from the back and he just took a bit too much speed in. And these aerodynamics nowadays on these cars, they're so sensitive. Once you get a big step out, you lose a lot of downforce. And then it just goes worse and worse and you just can't control the car. Lance Stroll is on pace to get into the top ten and does. Goes eighth fastest overall is Ricciardo. Now, outside of the top ten, goes back into the top ten. It's now Sebastian Vettel in threat and also Sergio Perez. Lando Norris goes second fastest. Perez is now 12th, Vettel is 11th. Perez crosses the line, goes fourth fastest. And on the soft compound tyre, that's what he'll start the race on. And that could be crucial for strategy for Red Bull tomorrow. Sebastian Vettel next to cross the line, goes 10th fastest, pushes Daniel Ricciardo and Vettel's teammate Lance Stroll out of the top ten. Kimi Räikkönen can't improve. Antonio Giovinazzi will be the last driver to cross the line. And he is 14th and slowest of the times we've had in this Q2 session. Ricciardo couldn't make it, Stroll couldn't make it, Perez did. But he had to do it on the soft tyre. Lewis is quicker in the first sector. As is Valtteri Bottas as well. There's less than a tenth of a second in it. But the Mercedes have a bit of an advantage through the first part of the lap. And usually that's the Verstappen sector. So at the moment, I would say advantage Mercedes. Let's see how Verstappen finishes the lap now. Well, he's done a 27.0 for the second sector on this lap. Bottas has just put in a 26.8. He's about two tenths up on Max Verstappen. Hamilton a 26.7. He's about three tenths up. Verstappen crosses the line, goes fastest with a 1.59. But the two Mercedes cars look to have the pace to put that time in a bit of trouble. Leclerc is now third fastest as Bottas goes on to Provisional Pole. It's Bottas, Verstappen, Leclerc, Ocon and Gasly. Alonso, Norris, Hamilton on Provisional Pole then. Here in Budapest, he is three tenths of a second ahead of his teammate. He's nearly half a second or over half a second clear of Max Verstappen. Sergio Perez, fourth fastest. Where's this Mercedes pace come from? So Verstappen has now found himself at the back of a queue here, Nico, and you could just tell there he was looking to try and get past a few drivers. Here go the games. Max Verstappen, at what stage does he try and get past Lewis Hamilton here? Lewis is not going to let him pass. There is no way. He's going to have to get a little bit of a move on here. Lewis Hamilton's out of lock-up. That was a strange one. Yeah. So behind him, Verstappen and Perez. Now, that clock is now ticking down to five seconds. Are they going to make it, both make it to the line before the chequered flag comes out? We'll let you know in a couple of moments. Verstappen is well on his way, as is Hamilton as well. I think they might just have both made it to the chequered flag. And there really would have been simmering tensions boiling over had they not made it to the chequered flag. But away then goes Hamilton. Perez missed it, I think I'm being told. Sergio Perez has missed the chequered flag, so he can't do any better than fourth. Verstappen has taken it. Perez has missed it, didn't get to the flag in time. This lap won't count, but neither Hamilton nor Verstappen are improving on this lap. Yeah, it's looking really good for Lewis for pole position here. Also, Bottas is not able to go a lot faster at the moment. So, Valtteri Bottas not improving by about half a second down through the first two sectors. Hamilton is a long way down. Verstappen has now set a personal best through the middle sector. But is that going to be enough? I wonder. The track doesn't seem to be yielding faster times in this final part of qualifying. That's got to be good news for the man on provisional pole. Max Verstappen rounds the final corner. Lewis Hamilton takes the line. He is on pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Verstappen can do nothing to stop him on this Saturday afternoon. It's a Mercedes front row lockout. Hamilton and Bottas in his Red Bull, starting on the soft tyres in the race, third and fourth. Sergio Perez didn't make it to the line in time. And there was little he could do, because had he got much closer to his teammate, they'd have been compromised throughout the whole lap. But that must be a horrible sight for a driver coming around the final corner, knowing that the red lights are on and your lap's not going to count. And let's talk about Lewis's first lap in Q3. I mean, it was beautiful. That lap time was just awesome. So he'd already had it in the pocket there on the first lap. And phenomenal. Once again, on this track, that's one of his favourite tracks. Such a good job.