Qualifying for the Hungarian GP this Saturday (July 25) truly delivered on its promise, standing out as easily the most tightly contested session of the 2026 Formula 1 season so far. Ferrari, McLaren, and even Mercedes—despite their struggles—entered the frame with genuine pole contention in a year that initially seemed destined for absolute Silver Arrows dominance.
Lando Norris pulled a rabbit out of the hat to claim top spot, with Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri lining up right behind. The Maranello squad remains the favorite for race victory, but Lewis Hamilton’s absence from the front row due to a penalty complicates matters for the Italians, who could have leveraged a tactical upper hand with both cars at the front.
Further back, Max Verstappen endured another episode of drama with Red Bull in a relationship that has turned toxic: just when both parties seem on good terms, the team finds a way to sour the mood. Finally, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell found themselves in their most complicated starting positions of the 2026 season.
With that in mind, GRANDE PRÊMIO breaks down five key takeaways from Saturday’s action in Hungary.
1. The Champion Is Back!
Lando Norris was finally rewarded for a relentless 2026 campaign. If the reigning World Champion’s stat sheet looks modest so far, the blame falls entirely on McLaren, which struggled significantly to get on top of both the chassis and the power unit. Speaking of the Mercedes engine, the upgrade introduced by the papaya squad back at the Belgian GP weekend seems to have delivered the desired effect, as neither driver has suffered reliability hiccups so far in Budapest.
The Briton himself admitted surprise with the result. Despite feeling comfortable in the MCL40 since FP1, there remained a sizable single-lap pace gap to Ferrari in particular. However, driver #4 made sure to share credit with the Woking crew, who brought crucial updates to Hungary. Ultimately, a track that has historically favored the team was once again painted papaya on Saturday.
Hard work remains to be done, however. Although Lewis Hamilton tumbled to fifth due to his grid penalty, Charles Leclerc will line up side-by-side with Norris when the lights go out. The Italian squad boasted superior long-run pace during practice simulations, making the run down to Turn 1 at the Hungaroring all the more vital. Letting the Monégasque take the lead early could spell trouble; otherwise, on such a tight circuit, anything can happen.
With Oscar Piastri inherited into third place, McLaren can also leverage strategy in pursuit of their first victory of 2026. The papaya squad has already pulled off a major feat by snapping Mercedes’ pole-position streak this season. There is room for more.
2. What Happened to the Favorites?
Did Ferrari tease their fans once again? In the first qualifying session of the season where Mercedes played the underdog, the Scuderia needed to capitalize. On a circuit tailored for the SF-26, starting from pole would have been tantamount to putting one-and-a-half feet on the top step of the podium, regardless of whether it was Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton leading the charge after both showed mega long-run pace in FP2.
Ultimately, the seven-time champion left the session most disappointed. After a series of minor errors on his final Q3 attempt, Hamilton watched Lando Norris edge him out by 0.012s as time expired. While second position was by no means a disaster, a penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri and the resulting drop to fifth made life considerably harder for driver #44. His McLaren counterpart is no longer the sole hurdle on his path to victory.
On the flip side, it’s hard to agree with Leclerc’s assessment that he “maximized the result” in qualifying. Even if he felt uncomfortable behind the wheel, Maranello held the upper hand—end of story. Still, second on the grid is far from a tragedy. As noted, the Monégasque gets an immediate chance to attack into Turn 1, and should he snatch the lead, he will be tough to beat on raw pace.
However, a major question mark lingers for Sunday: the heat. Frédéric Vasseur’s squad ran race simulations on the soft compound and conserved extra sets by utilizing mediums in Q1. But if track temperatures soar further on Sunday, degradation on the red-marked rubber could spike, rendering them unusable. Strategy, as ever in Hungary, will be paramount.
3. Has Mercedes Turned into the Silver Arrows No More?
Puns aside, Mercedes knew they would face a tough fight against their rivals in Hungary, but they were undoubtedly caught off guard by the sheer scale of the mountain they had to climb. From the opening runs, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell complained vociferously about balance issues on the W17, particularly struggling to bring the tyres into the optimal operating window, causing a severe lack of grip.
“The issue isn’t the car, it’s the tyres,” declared the senior driver of the pair post-qualifying. Russell also suffered another reliability setback in the form of a water leak. Consequently, he will take on a new power unit for Sunday’s race—his fourth and final allowed allocation, avoiding a penalty since it was required due to a component failure. Regardless, his pace trailed his teammate once again despite having more seat time to adapt.
Antonelli, who sat out FP1 to hand his seat to Frederik Vesti, experienced an unfamiliar 2026 scenario by feeling out of sync with his car. He qualified fourth, which became seventh after a penalty for a yellow-flag infraction late in Q3. The young Italian candidly admitted he had zero chance of threatening Lando Norris’s benchmark time of 1m17s207.
With both drivers lining up in close proximity, their main hopes lie in the strong race pace shown during Friday’s long runs. Their internal battle will carry heavy implications for the Drivers’ Championship.
4. A Toxic Relationship
While other drivers wrestled with tyre degradation on Hungary’s scorching surface, Max Verstappen’s concerns ran deeper: “We suffer from car degradation.” Indeed, the four-time World Champion held nothing back regarding Red Bull’s performance. It remains fascinating how this partnership swings between heaven and hell from one weekend to the next. After the high of a podium in Belgium, tension erupted once again in Budapest.
“I genuinely cannot understand what’s happening. It’s very, very difficult. The car just started snapping excessively on entry, and honestly, every lap I did in qualifying was worse than the previous one,” added the Dutchman.
Incredibly, he walked away unscathed on the grid sheet. After spinning his RB22 at Turn 14 and settling for sixth, he gained two positions following penalties handed to Lewis Hamilton and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Can he pull off something special from the second row? On pure pace, it looks unlikely. Provided they don’t get swallowed up off the line, the Milton Keynes squad could use the tight nature of the circuit to defend aggressively and perhaps lean on an alternative strategy. While Verstappen showed promising stint pace on Friday, rivals have made steps forward since, leaving Red Bull plateaued, unbalanced, and devoid of answers.
5. The Master and the Apprentice
There is no denying that Fernando Alonso was one of the standout performers in Budapest qualifying. Behind the wheel of the AMR26 ‘B’ spec, the Spaniard dragged his car into Q2, proving once again that F1 loses out whenever he is relegated to the back of the pack. While the two-time World Champion’s brilliance comes as no shock, Aston Martin’s sudden leap forward took many by surprise. Granted, this performance won’t translate to every circuit, as a layout lacking long straights helps mask the shortfalls of the Honda power unit. On the flip side, it demonstrates that their aerodynamic development path is finally heading in the right direction.
While the master enjoyed a positive day within his equipment’s limits, apprentice Gabriel Bortoleto endured a disappointing session with Audi. (A quick reminder: the Asturian has managed the Brazilian’s career since 2022, hence the mentor-mentee dynamic). The driver from São Paulo certainly had the machinery to push further into the session, as teammate Nico Hülkenberg made it all the way into Q3 and stands poised to score his first points of 2026.
However, the clear favorites for the remaining top-10 slots are Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson, who line up ninth and 11th, respectively. Even on a circuit favoring Audi’s concept, the Faenza-based squad proved once again that their package is fast anywhere, setting up a decisive battle against Alpine for fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.
GRANDE PRÊMIO is tracking all the action live from the Hungarian GP, the 11th round of the 2026 season.
