DLewis Hamilton enjoyed the loud boos of the fans in Orange. In the bitter title fight with Max Verstappen, the seven-time world champion got into the top position to take the championship lead before the summer break. On Saturday, the 36-year-old Brit raced to the 101st pole of his career and his eighth at the Hungarian Grand Prix on the hot Hungaroring.
“That was an incredible qualifying round,” enthused Hamilton, who can now also celebrate the ninth Hungarian win and the 100th Grand Prix success of his career. He relegated his team-mate Valtteri Bottas to second place in the Mercedes in qualifying. It was only more than four tenths of a second behind Hamilton that Red Bull driver Verstappen followed in third place. “We’ve been a bit behind the entire weekend.”
Two weeks after the Silverstone crash, where Hamilton won and Verstappen was eliminated, there should be another thrilling fight between the two on this Sunday (3 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for Formula 1 and on Sky). Because Hamilton and Bottas will start on the somewhat harder and therefore initially slower tires. Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez finished fourth after he couldn’t make one last quick attempt, which further fueled the already charged atmosphere between Red Bull and Mercedes.
“I don’t see it from a sporting point of view, but we also have to take note of that,” complained Red Bulls Motorsport Director Helmut Marko. He accused the Mercedes duo of slowing down so much before the last lap that Verstappen was not up to speed and Perez was no longer able to move. “There are always complaints,” countered Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
Hamilton did not care about any of this either, just as he had confidently and calmly accepted the allegations from the Red Bull camp after the Silverstone Zoff. “It has never felt so good to be booed,” commented Hamilton after the Dutch fans had welcomed him on the start and finish straight: “It was more of a push for me.”
Sebastian Vettel finished tenth in the Aston Martin and was “so far satisfied”. Mick Schumacher couldn’t drive at all – he had demolished his Haas racing car too much in an accident during practice. Shortly before the end of free practice, he lost control of his car and hit the side of the tire wall with force. “I felt good, probably a little too good, and then turned a bit fast,” he explained.
The gearbox was damaged in the process and had to be replaced, and the Haas had suffered a lot in other ways too: It was a race against time for repairs. “Five to ten minutes” more, then it would have worked with one lap, said the 22-year-old, who was still in the car and apologized for the momentous mistake. He had already had an accident during training in Monaco, so that he could not start in the qualification.
Because in Hungary, too, he waited in vain behind the car in his pits in full gear and his helmet on, but praised his mechanics: “The boys did their best.” Mick Schumacher will start the race on Sunday from the pit lane have to.
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