With a miraculous lap Lewis Hamilton gives himself the 104th pole in his career!

(Cover picture: The Race)

The Hungaroring is known to be one of Lewis Hamilton's home circuits: with 9 poles won out of 17 qualifying sessions held, the English driver has an astonishing statistic of over 50% of starts from pole on Hungarian soil. Let's analyze what happened on Saturday in Budapest, in a qualifying session whose final standings are as follows:

🏁 QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION 🏁

Lewis Hamilton takes his first pole of the 2023 season!#HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/6r3qDXdX97

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 22, 2023

Telemetry analysis: where did Lewis' 104th pole position come from?

Taking advantage of the telemetric analysis, we can try to understand where the difference of 3 thousandths that separated the historic rivals at the finish line lies... In the following picture, for reference, bear in mind that the most important of the 4 graphs shown is the one relating to the speed trace, which ultimately determines the laptime.

Telemetry Analysis - Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen

At the beginning of the lap we don't find any substantial differences between the two, if not in terms of gear changes: in each traction zone, we see how Hamilton's Mercedes W14 allows him to upshift earlier than Verstappen's Red Bull RB19. The reason for this could lie in a more conservative engine mode for the English-Austrian team, which find itself in a delicate moment in the turnover of the Power Unit components: to avoid unnecessary risks and try to finish the season without incurring in any penalty, it's probable that less aggressive engine modes are being used on the World Champion's car, by virtue of which the RB19 revs up (a little) more slowly than at the beginning of the season.

Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Continuing with the telemetry analysis, the middle sector is the area in which the 7-times World Champion builds his pole... Look at the graph relating to the use of the throttle pedal: in pretty much all the corners of the second sector Lewis never lifts his right foot completely, a sign of huge confidence with the vehicle at his disposal today...

"It was an unexpected pole, in the last run I gave everything. It was a great challenge for every person in the team, on a road full of ups and downs, like a rollercoaster... But we stayed close, we focused on how to set the car on the right direction [...] Today we were losing time in turns 4 and 11 compared to my rivals, but in the last attempt I gave everything hoping that the car would stay on track. It was difficult and it will continue to be difficult in the future, but I think it shows that we are on the right track. We must continue to push!”

Lewis Hamilton

Reaching the third sector, Lewis can make good use of a "treasure" of about a tenth and a half against Max, who in fact is faster towards the end of the 4381 m of the Hungaroring. The Dutchman enters the last corner with a minimum speed at the apex almost 15 km/h higher than that of the Englishman, but unfortunately for him the finish line is set too early to think of mocking his bitter rival. As mentioned, for just 3 thousandths of a second there was nothing to do...

Michael Potts / Motorsport Images

We are thus talking about a consecutive string of 5 pole positions interrupted for Max Verstappen, who, however, in view of the race can count on a more performing single-seater than in qualifying: the advantage in terms of tyre degradation that he can enjoy doesn't seem yet to be scratched, while in qualifying - it seems - it's no longer like this...

"We didn't expect to be in such trouble here, we suffered a lot in Q1 and Q2 and we had the worst balance of this season. All this is not due to the updates: the grip came and went even with the same compound. I tried to correct something but the front end was like on ice. The sensations were really inconsistent, and it was difficult to make progress today [...] It will be very hot in the race, it won't be easy to overtake and it will probably also be more difficult to manage the rear tyres"

Max Verstappen

McLaren once again quick in Budapest, and aims to stay within the top teams group!

On the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix, everyone - myself included - expressed some doubts about the potential of the Woking team on a track so unsuitable for the MCL60. Even at the end of yesterday's free practice, the peculiar conditions in which everyone raced called for calm... But, even on Saturday, Norris and Piastri did not disappoint expectations, qualifying respectively in P3 and P4.

Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

The updates introduced between the Austrian and British GPs have obviously upset (positively) the balance of the English car, but there are those in the paddock who are ready to bet that other factors are giving the papaya team wings.

For example, Fernando Alonso (today only in P8 with his Aston Martin AMR23) stated quite clearly that the change introduced in the tyres starting from the last GP influenced the competitive level, helping McLaren and Alfa Romeo, and holding back Aston Martin itself and - according to him - also Red Bull.

"I'm disappointed, because when you get within 0.1s of pole you feel that if you could have done it...Of course, overall I'm happy with the work done by the team, being third and fourth makes this a good weekend so far! In today's best lap I think I made a few small mistakes which cost me dearly. At the same time, the car is fast and the race pace on Friday was quite positive. We're as fast here as at Silverstone, and that certainly excites me. Overtaking is difficult here, so I'm a little more frustrated than I normally would be for a third place... In any case, I hope to score good points tomorrow"

Lando Norris

What is certain is that if McLaren were to be able to convert the double qualifying result into big points once again, they might almost secure fifth position in the Constructors' Championship, a result which in the light of the first half of the Championship cannot be considered entirely unsatisfactory...

Among the Ferrari-powered cars, the surprising Alfa Romeo beats the Maranello team

Between fifth and seventh position, which belong respectively to Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas, we find - sandwiched between the two Alfa Romeos - the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, only sixth. The Monegasque, to be precise, has a gap of +0.383 s from poleman Hamilton: a not abysmal gap, but one in which several other cars found their place.

Michael Potts / Motorsport Images

We've been saying this for various races now, but it's increasingly clear how Charles Leclerc's talent is systematically mortified by the unrealistic ambitions to which the SF-23 gives rise, being as performing on the simulator as it's problematic on the track. To avoid revising the objectives week in week out, it will be better for Maranello to re-calibrate the simulation tools, which are too far from reality and which more than once caused them to lose the right development path.

"We're struggling with the car's performance right now, and what's more, we have a McLaren that surprised us again today. We expected them to have taken a step forward only in the fast corners, but on a track like this you can see that they've taken a step forward in general. Let's hope that the next upgrades will lead us to fight with them [...] In my best lap, I put everything together, except for the last sector, in which I might have lost 5 hundredths of a second due to a snap that made me lose the rear end. Tomorrow's race will be a surprise for everyone, but if we do a good job on tyre management, everything is possible. This is what makes the difference!"

Charles Leclerc

Even worse was his teammate Sainz' qualifying, who saw him eliminated in Q2 by just 2 thousandths by his compatriot Fernando Alonso! The pattern at the Hungaroring today seemed that of minimum gaps, if you consider that Zhou's C43 was ahead of the two Spaniards by... 1 thousandth of a second!

"Two thousandths are very few, even with just a tenth more I could have found myself far ahead, but unfortunately this is the situation. A real pity that the new rules forced us to face Q2 with the Medium compound, which I didn't get along with right from the beginning of the weekend. In the first sector I struggled a lot, even more than with the Hards! If the qualifying format had been normal we could have certainly done better [...] Today it was windy and in the longer corners we suffer from a lack of balance: it's not the best condition and we know it, especially when we're all so close. There are rivals who have improved a lot compared to last year, like McLaren and Alfa Romeo"

Carlos Sainz

Despite the starting position (P11), I believe that Sainz has the potential to recover some positions in the race: after all, the pace shown since free practice seems in line with his teammate Leclerc, so far only marginally faster. It will all be about avoiding ending up in a "DRS train", where a string of drivers stands in front, preventing any overtaking possibility.

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Today, it's a must to praise Alfa Romeo, with its two drivers scoring the best qualifying for the Swiss team since 2012... The combination between the tortuous Hungarian track and the C43 resembles a lot what we observed two weeks ago at Silverstone, where McLaren and Williams made a monstrous leap forward.

"We are definitely today's surprise... We already showed good pace yesterday, but at most we would have expected to go into Q3, certainly not to find ourselves in P5! I'm very happy, especially for the first place in Q1. I knew I had to do a special lap in that circumstance to be safe, but even being first gave me a lot of confidence in the following laps. I also did well when it counted, in Q3. We have a strong car here, we hope to be strong tomorrow"

Guanyu Zhou

With two such high starting positions and the possibility of playing some strategy tricks, a points finish is absolutely not to be excluded for Bottas and Zhou, who, moreover, showed a devastating race pace in the second free practice session on Friday. At this point, running an error-free race becomes crucial to gain fundamental points in the fight against Williams, Haas and Alpha Tauri in the Constructors' Championship.

At the back of the grid Ricciardo performs well, also thanks to the misstep of the two Williams!

Concluding Saturday's analysis at the Hungaroring with the back positions, how can we fail to mention Ricciardo's excellent P13, who even beats his new teammate Tsunoda (eliminated in Q1) on his first attempt.

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

In a frenetic context such as the search for a place away from traffic to put in a good lap, Daniel made great use of all his experience, also succeeding in keeping the tyres at the right temperature: let's remember that due to the format called Alternative Tyre Allocation, Q1 was run entirely on Hard tyres, which are already very difficult to "switch on". George Russell knows something about this, having had to slow down due to traffic and thus completing an unsatisfactory lap, which puts him in the awkward position of starting from P18 tomorrow.

Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Small stumbling instead for Williams, which in the crucial moment of Q1 is unable to progress into Q2 neither with Alex Albon nor with rookie Logan Sargeant. Unlike McLaren's historic rivals, the Grove-based team provided its drivers with a less competitive FW45 in the slow corners than we admired in the fast corners of Silverstone.

Said of qualifying, the 70 race laps at the Hungaroring will start at 15.00 CET: the simulations provided by Pirelli predict a race with 2 or even 3 pit stops, with the a scorching afternoon surrounding the show on the track. Enjoy the race!