Mercedes finally saw their perfect pole position record in 2026 ended as Lando Norris topped qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Brit dramatically beat Lewis Hamilton by just 12 thousanths of a second in a dramatic ending to the session which saw Max Verstappen spin off at the final corner.
That completely ruined things for Kimi Antonelli, who was the car behind the Red Bull on track, and also George Russell who had to lift off too as he came across the yellow flags around the final corner. That paved the way for Norris to have a go at Hamilton’s provisional pole time and had just enough speed in the final sector to deny his fellow Brit as McLaren were the ones to end Mercedes‘ streak.
Further down, the others stars of qualifying were Aston Martin who turned up with an enormous upgrade signed off by Adrian Newey. It put a huge amount of performance on their cars and Fernando Alonso took full advantage, by securing both his and the team’s best Saturday result of the year up to now.
It was a season-first for Aston Martin as Alonso escaped Q1 for the first time all year. Driving a somewhat competitive car, finally, the Spaniard made the most of the 16 upgrades on his AMR26 to escape from the elimination zone. Lance Stroll, however, suffered yet another Q1 exit.
Stroll was, at least, quicker than the two Cadillac cars who seem to have firmly slipped back behind Aston Martin in terms of one-lap performance. Williams also suffered a humiliating double exit as they continue to serve as a cautinary tale for teams about the perils of trying to develop your way out of trouble. Oliver Bearman was the final driver out in Q1, unusually out-qualified by Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon.
Q2 looked perilous for Charles Leclerc for a time as, at the end of that part of qualifying, the Monegasque found himself 11th on the timesheets and in need of a strong final effort to avoid an early exit. He produced a lap more than good enough to book his place in the shootout for pole, though, including a final sector quicker than anyone else managed.
Alonso was happy to settle for 16th behind Ocon. The two Alpines also failed to make it into the top 10, while Liam Lawson also fell short along with Gabriel Bortoleto. That meant both Racing Bulls and Audi were represented in the final part of qualifying, teenager Arvid Lindblad and the much more experienced Nico Hulkenberg booking their places.
Hamilton was the fastest of everyone on the first runs of Q3 and few were improving on their final runs, making it look likely that he would be the one on pole. Antonelli was one of the few who was finding more time but his chances of a late pole push ended when Verstappen span off track at the final corner ahead of him.
The yellow flags meant both he and team-mate Russell had to back off and ended their respective pushes. But the track was green again by the time Norris reached that sector and he was nearly two-tenths up on Hamilton’s time. He lost momentum in those final few corners but he had enough pace in hand to narrowly pip the seven-time world champion to top spot.