Leclerc takes shock pole at Hungarian GP

Charles Leclerc took a shock pole position for Ferrari at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of Oscar Piastri in second and Lando Norris in third.

Leclerc hooked up a 1:15.372 to beat championship leader Piastri to the fastest time in Q3 by 0.026 seconds, with Piastri’s McLaren teammate Norris a further 0.015 seconds adrift in third.

Norris set the fastest time of all in Q2 – a 1:14.980 – but could not replicate it when it in Q3 when the sky clouded over, the wind picked up and the track temperature dropped.

“Today I don’t understand anything in Formula 1,” Leclerc said afterwards. “Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it’s not exaggerating. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3 … I knew I just had to do a clean lap to tagret third and at the end of the day it’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that.

“Honestly, I have no words. It’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had. It’s the most unexpected, for sure,” he added.