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F1

Hungarian GP Qualifying Results: Charles Leclerc stuns McLaren to secure first pole of the season

Charles Leclerc claimed Ferrari's first pole position of the year ahead of Sunday's showdown.
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Charles Leclerc stunned the McLaren drivers to claim his first pole position of the Formula 1 season, triumphing in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

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In an incredibly tight session, the French driver clocked a lap time of 1:15.372 in the dying seconds of qualifying, edging out Oscar Piastri by a mere 0.026 seconds.

Charles Leclerc secured pole position ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix | Credit: X(@F1)
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Lando Norris finished third, just 0.041 seconds behind Leclerc, and will share the second row with George Russell, who was 0.053 off the pace.

Charles Leclerc secured pole position ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix | Credit: X(@F1)

Speaking after the qualifiers, Leclerc said: "Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it's not exagerrating.

"It was super..super..difficult. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3.

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"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."

Outside of podium

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(From L-R) Oscar Piastri of McLaren, Charles Leclerc of Ferrai, and Lando Norris of McLaren finished top 3 in Saturday's qualifying | Credit: X(@F1)

Behind Russell, Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will start fifth and sixth, respectively, while Gabriel Bortoleto and Max Verstappen will line up seventh and eighth.

Racing Bulls drivers Liam Lawson and Isaak Hadjar will round out the top ten on the grid at the Hungaroring circuit tomorrow.

Oliver Bearman narrowly missed out on a spot in the final qualifying shootout by just 0.007 seconds, and the Haas driver will start 11th.

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He'll be joined on the sixth row by Lewis Hamilton, who, after a strong showing in practice, endured a disappointing qualifying session, finishing 0.015 seconds behind Bortoleto in the fight for the final spot in the top ten.

Along with Bearman and Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Franco Colapinto, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli were also eliminated after Q2, which saw a brief sprinkle of rain over parts of the track.

Antonelli initially qualified 11th, a mere 0.001 seconds ahead of Bearman, but his fastest lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at the final corner, relegating him to 15th on the grid.

In a highly competitive Q1 session, where the entire field was separated by just 1.012 seconds, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, and Alex Albon occupied the bottom five spots, ending their qualifying campaigns early.

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Tsunoda, who finished 16th, was just 0.024 seconds slower than Colapinto in the battle to progress to Q2.

The Japanese driver was 0.163 seconds behind his teammate Verstappen, who placed 11th at the end of the first 18 minutes of qualifying.

When is the main race of the Hungarian Grand Prix?

The Hungarian Grand Prix, the 14th round of the 2025 Formula 1 season, is scheduled for tomorrow at 16:00 Bulgarian time and can be followed live on Sportal.bg.

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