Charles Leclerc took a sensational, surprise pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix, beating Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris as McLaren’s practice dominance disappeared in a tricky qualifying session at the Hungaroring. 

Championship leader Piastri and Norris were quickest in the opening phases of qualifying but a change of wind direction in Q3 caught both unawares and only Leclerc was able to profit from the altered conditions. The Ferrari driver posted a final flyer of 1:15.372 to beat provisional polesitter Piastri by just under three hundredths of a second as Norris finished third. 

“Today, I don't understand anything in Formula 1,” said a shocked Leclerc after taking his 27th career pole. “Honestly, the whole qualifying was extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it's not exaggerating. It was super, super difficult. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3. In Q3 the conditions changed a little bit, everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third. At the end of the day, it’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that.”

In Q1 it was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who set the early pace at 1:16.346, but the McLaren practice pacesetters soon cleared that, with championship leader Piastri taking top spot on 1:15.554, a little over four tenths up on Norris. 

Piastri improved again on his final run, logging a lap 1:15.211 to take top spot ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who posted a strong lap to take P2 ahead of another surprise Q1 frontrunner Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls. Norris was left with fourth, while Leclerc slotted into fifth. 

Further back, Verstappen’s early time left him in 12th and though his final flyer jumped him back into the top 10, better times elsewhere saw him drop to 11th at the end of the session, signalling that Red Bull were in for a tough afternoon. 

The Dutchman’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda posted a lap just a tenth behind his team-mate, but as better times came in the Japanese driver slumped to 16th and he was ruled out ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and in last place, Williams’ Alex Albon. 

 Just ahead of Q2 spots of rain began to fall at Turn 6 and when the lights went green at the end of the pit lane a queue of cars flooded out onto track to get in a banker lap should the conditions worsen. 

In the opening runs, Norris stormed to the top of the order with a time of 1:14.890, five hundredths of a second ahead of team-mare Piastri, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in third on 1:15.935. Leclerc, meanwhile, could only manage P10 at the end of the first runs and the Monegasque driver looked to be struggling. 

However, in the final runs, the Ferrari driver hauled his way to sixth place, though he ended up half a second off the pace set by Norris. 

At the other end of the timesheet, Haas’ Ollie Bearman exited in P11 ahead of Hamilton, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

At the start of Q3 Piastri took provisional pole with a time of 1:15.398, 0.096s ahead of Norris, with Russell in third place. 

The expectation was that the final runs would result in a nip and tuck tussle between the McLaren pair but as the wind changed and the pace of both Piastri and Norris ebbed away, Leclerc found more pace than anyone to claim Ferrari’s first pole of the season with a lap of 1:15.372 that put him 0.026s clear of Piastri and four hundredths ahead of Norris who took P3 ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, Alonso and Lance Stroll. Gabriel Bortoleto was seventh for Sauber ahead of Verstappen  and the final top 10 places went to Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar.

2025 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1: 15.372 - -
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1: 15.398 0.026 0.034
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1: 15.413 0.041 0.054
4 George Russell Mercedes 1: 15.425 0.053 0.070
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1: 15.481 0.109 0.145
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1: 15.498 0.126 0.167
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1: 15.725 0.353 0.468
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1: 15.728 0.356 0.472
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1: 15.821 0.449 0.596
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1: 15.915 0.543 0.720
11 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1: 15.694 0.322 0.427
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1: 15.702 0.330 0.438
13 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1: 15.781 0.409 0.543
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1: 16.159 0.787 1.044
15 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1: 16.386 1.014 1.345
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1: 15.899 0.527 0.699
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1: 15.966 0.594 0.788
18 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1: 16.023 0.651 0.864
19 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1: 16.081 0.709 0.941
20 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1: 16.223 0.851 1.12