F1 MATHS: What were the strengths and weaknesses of the top teams in Formula One's closest-ever qualifying?
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc secured his first pole position at the Hungaroring in a qualifying session that turned out to be the closest qualifying in Formula One's history. F1Technical.net's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers his latest analysis.
Ferrari endured a challenging day at the Hungaroring. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton displayed great pace in final practice, ending up third and fourth, respectively.
However, the conditions changed massively for qualifying, with track temperatures having dropped and the wind having picked up. This seemingly affected Ferrari more than their rivals.
Hamilton struggled in Q1, but made it through into Q2, albeit he was unable to achieve anything more than a P12 on the grid for tomorrow’s Budapest race.
His team-mate Leclerc struggled across the opening two sessions as well, but progressed into Q3. After his first hot lap, he found himself in a disappointing P7, but he delivered again when it mattered to secure an absolutely astonishing pole position for today's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Considering top speed and cornerning speed, Ferrari displayed a strong performance in all key aspects. Leclerc recorded an impressive top speed of 315kph down the main straight, which was a result of the Scuderia's choice to run a less-loaded rear wing than Red Bull and McLaren.
The Scuderia has often struggled at the exit of low-speed corners this year, but the SF-25 was relatively strong through the first corner, with Leclerc recording a minimum speed of 95kph.
At the other end of a spectrum, Leclerc was relatively strong through the high-speed corner, Turn 4.
Having dominated the practice sessions, McLaren was in a league of its own through the corners. Piastri was four kph faster than Leclerc at the apex of Turn 1 and was much quicker through the high-speed section at Turn 4.
However, with the Woking-based outfit having elected to use a heavily-loaded rear wing which provides a huge advantage through the flowing sequence of twisting corners at the Hungaroring, albeit Piastri and his team-mate Lando Norris struggle down the straights.
Mercedes have elected to mount the less-loaded rear wing onto the W16s, which helped George Russell achieve the highest top speed down the main straight. However,the Briton was unable to match McLaren's corning speed neither in the slow-speed and the high-speed sections.
As for Fernando Alonso, whose participation had been in danger due to his back injuries, the Spaniard produced very similar performance through the slow-speed corners and the main straight.
However, Aston Martin's deficit came in the high-speed sections where they were 5 kph down on Ferrari and a staggering 12kph away from McLaren.
