Lando Norris pipped team-mate Oscar Piastri to pole position as McLaren delivered on expectations to seize a front row lockout at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Norris came out on top during a session which included two red flag stoppages and intermittent rain throughout as McLaren overcame Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
There had been persistent rain in the build-up to the session and the FIA declared the track wet, but the high track temperature meant that slicks were still the choice.
Despite McLaren being the pacesetting team across practice as Norris headed his team-mate, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and then Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton edged them.
Valtteri Bottas posted an improvement on his second timed lap to demote Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari down into the drop zone with more rain threatening on the horizon.
Logan Sargeant was attempting to climb the order when he endured a horrendous lock-up at the Turn 1 braking zone and his Williams headed straight into the barrier.
Leclerc managed to haul his Ferrari up to ninth spot on his next attempt to escape danger, but Daniel Ricciardo, who was quick in FP3, now requiring an improvement.
Sergio Perez was aiming to build upon a promising practice run and was situated in a strong position when he lost the rear going into Turn 8 and span into the barrier.
The Mexican’s latest incident occurred when he was ninth on the timesheets and set to advance, but his stranded Red Bull prompted a stoppage with six minutes left.
Both Alpine drivers remained in the pits once Q1 resumed and that materialised to be the wrong call as the track conditions permitted improvements on the last runs.
Lance Stroll propelled his Aston Martin up the order along with Ricciardo as the Australian shot up the pecking order right into first place with a 1:17.050s to advance.
Meanwhile, Bottas also went even quicker to relegate George Russell, who emerged earlier to clock his final attempt, into the drop zone as the Haas drivers improved.
Kevin Magnussen sneaked through in 15th spot to relegate Perez, who was confirmed as a Q1 elimination alongside Russell, Zhou Guanyu and the two Alpine drivers.
The 15-minute Q2 stage began with the drivers circulating at a usual slower pace on their out laps to generate the optimum temperature in the rubber on a drier track.
Sainz and then Hamilton set the initial benchmarks on used Softs in the second stage, which Verstappen smashed to go over six-tenths quicker on a new compound.
Oscar Piastri slotted his McLaren a narrow 0.015s behind Verstappen’s time on used tyres, with team-mate Norris over four-tenths back and behind Fernando Alonso.
Sainz improved on his second timed lap to push Norris down to fifth, with Bottas, Sargeant, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg and Ricciardo the names outside the top 10.
Hamilton is a renowned specialist around the Hungaroring, but he was wrestling his Mercedes car during his last effort and was fortunate to advance through in 10th.
Hulkenberg wound up 0.010s short from handing Hamilton a shock Q2 elimination. However, he exited alongside Bottas, Albon, Sargeant and team-mate Magnussen.
Back at the sharp end, Norris returned McLaren to the summit as the Briton recorded a 1:15.540s to harbour the advantage over Verstappen and Piastri going into Q3.
There was a chance that the rain would return and interrupt proceedings in the all-important pole position shootout, resulting in all 10 drivers venturing onto the track.
Verstappen was the opening driver to post a time and he nailed a 1:15.555s to end up on provisional pole, with others unable to dislodge the Dutchman from the top.
However, Norris was the last driver to come across the line and he managed a blistering middle and final sector to go over three-tenths quicker than Verstappen’s lap.
McLaren team-mate Piastri was more than six-tenths down on his team-mate but was still in third, with Leclerc fighting his Ferrari through the last turn to fourth spot.
But the conditions remained stable enough during the closing minutes and Piastri went up into second, 0.022s down on Norris, to hand McLaren a front-row lock-out.
Verstappen was three milliseconds up on Norris come the middle sector split, though, but he was unable to continue that across the last sector and was 0.046s back.
The session would come to a halt again, however, as Yuki Tsunoda ran wide through the winding right-hander at Turn 5, ended up on the astro and shunted the barrier.
Following an elongated wait, the session resumed with 2:12 on the clock with all the drivers bar Tsunoda, Alonso and Verstappen all deciding to have one more crack.
However, improvements among the six who made it to the chequered flag were scarce to confirm that Norris was on pole with a 1:15.227s to lead a McLaren lockout.
Piastri and Verstappen remained second and third, with Sainz the lead Ferrari in fourth. Hamilton completed the top five, as Leclerc rued missing out on a second run.
Alonso headed an Aston Martin seventh and eighth result with Lance Stroll two-tenths behind his team-mate, while Ricciardo pipped Tsunoda at the last to take ninth.
