Max qualifies in fifth for Hungarian GP: "Happy with the car"

Published on 29 July 2017 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from P5. He is joined on the third row of the grid by his Red Bull Racing team mate Daniel Ricciardo who qualified in sixth. Ferrari secured a front row lock-out with Sebastian Vettel scoring his 48th pole position ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamiton finished third and fourth.

“It went well in Q1 and Q2, But you know that both Ferrari and Mercedes can turn up their engines in Q3”, said Max post-qualifying. “It’s been a tough weekend so far; I wasn’t able to find a good balance which really hurts on this circuit. But in the first qualifying run, the car felt good so I was happy with that. Especially beating my team mate is good because I’ve struggled with that all weekend.”

“In Q3, my first run was really good but for the second wing we put more front wing because I felt some understeer. However, that resulted in more sliding going into the corner. In the end I’m very happy with this result after a tough start of to the weekend.”

Looking forward to the race, Max is motivated: “We have fairly good starts so you never know what can happen. I’m looking forward to the start because my clutch is better than last year. Luckily I’m also on the better side of the grid so that’s all good.”

At the start of qualifying, we a familiar face back in a Formula 1 car: Paul Di Resta will replace Felipe Massa for the remainder of the weekend after the Brazilian felt ill all weekend. The Scotsman was thrown in the deep end by jumping into the Williams without any previous running. After eleven laps, he was only seven tenths of the pace of his team mate Lance Stroll.

Nevertheless, both Williams stranded in Q1. They were joined by both Saubers of PascaL Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson, Sergio Perez (Force India) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas). The latter two clocked the same lap time. Because the Mexican set his first, he was allowed to progress to Q2 instead of the Dane.

For Jolyon Palmer (Renault), Estaban Ocon (Force India), Daniil Kvyat (Scuderia Toro Rosso), Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean (Haas) the second part of qualifying is their final session of the day. It meant that McLaren continued the good form thus far this weekend, by progressing to Q3, joining the top three teams, Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) and Carlos Sainz (Scuderia Toro Rosso).

In the final part of qualifying it is poised to be a duel between Ferrari and Mercedes. After the first timed laps, it is Vettel, Bottas, Max, Ricciardo and Raikkonen occupying the top five. In the final run, Sebastian Vettel holds on to pole position but is joined on the front row by his team mate Raikkonen. Lewis Hamilton jumped both Red Bulls to slot in behind his Mercedes colleague Bottas.

Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring - Saturday 29 July

QUALIFYING RESULTS

01  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:17.244 1:16.802 1:16.276 14
02  7 Kimi Raikkonen      Ferrari                     1:17.364 1:17.207 1:16.444 14
03 77 Valtteri Bottas     Mercedes                    1:18.058 1:17.362 1:16.530 18
04 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:17.492 1:16.693 1:16.707 17
05 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:17.266 1:17.028 1:16.797 14
06  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:17.702 1:17.698 1:16.818 14
07 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Renault                     1:18.137 1:17.655 1:17.468 14
08 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:18.395 1:17.919 1:17.549 17
09  2 Stoffel Vandoorne   McLaren Honda               1:18.479 1:18.000 1:17.894 17
10 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso                  1:18.948 1:18.311 1:18.912 19
11 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:18.699 1:18.415          14
12 31 Esteban Ocon        Force India Mercedes        1:18.843 1:18.495          16
13 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso                  1:18.702 1:18.538          15
14 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:19.095 1:18.639          15
15  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:19.085 1:18.771          15
16 20 Kevin Magnussen     Haas Ferrari                1:19.095                    9
17 18 Lance Stroll        Williams Mercedes           1:19.102                    9
18 94 Pascal Wehrlein     Sauber Ferrari              1:19.839                    9
19 40 Paul di Resta       Williams Mercedes           1:19.868                   11
20  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:19.972                    8 

Hungarian GP contest: win an orange Max Verstappen driver cap & orange VER flag!