Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying results: Ferrari shocks in more ways than one

All weekend geared us up for another McLaren 1-2, but Charles Leclerc shocked everyone (even himself) to put that to a stop. Charles Leclerc will line up at the front of the grid for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, his first pole since Baku 2024. It came at a track that he has said he does not perform well at, and even sounded surprised on the radio when he heard that he beat out the McLarens by just a few hundredths of a second.

Here's what happened across all three sessions.

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Q1: Another Yuki disaster, Albon's momentum halted

Q1 went off without any notable incidents, but the final running saw massive track evolution from the first runs.

Oscar Piastri was the quickest time, while Mercedes put up a competitive time on first efforts and opted not to come back out.

Among the midfield teams in high positions were Isack Hadjar (P3) and Gabriel Bortoleto (P6).

Yuki Tsunoda, after a season best P7 in qualifying last time out in Belgium, went out in Q1 for the fifth time in eight races. Alex Albon after a P6 and P8 in his last two race finishes, qualified dead last.

Q2: Another rough one for Antonelli, Hamilton

Some random rain hit a small part of the circuit in the early moments of Q2, which threw a wrench into some early running, but it was gone minutes later.

For the final laps, the margins were incredibly narrow, with 15 milliseconds from 10th-13th.

Those small margins meant elimination before Q3 once again for Lewis Hamilton and the man who took his spot at Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli.

Hamilton sounded quite defeated on the radio, saying "Every time, every time" upon hearing the news that he was out.

The McLarens were fastest in Q2, with Lance Stroll putting up an impressive P3.

Gabriel Bortoleto put himself through to Q3 for a third time in four races, as it seems that Hulkenberg's good form has transferred over to the Brazilian.

Max Verstappen was only P8, and wasn't even the quickest Red Bull, with Isack Hadjar ahead of him in seventh.

Q3: Ferrari surprise, tight gaps in the top four

On first running, the McLarens were up by two tenths. George Russell posted two purple sectors, but a moment of oversteer in the final turn killed some momentum for him.

Aston Martin went out on their own and put out competitive laps, an effort that seemed to have come from nowhere after the team has struggled mightily across a large portion of this season's grand prixs. Alonso sat P2 before the top running cars went back out.

McLaren seemed to be the easy favorite, but Charles Leclerc put up an incredible lap from nowhere. As soon as the Ferrari posted that time, the McLarens were not improving enough. Piastri, Norris and Russell tried as they could (and came within a tenth) but couldn't knock off Leclerc.

Leclerc posted Ferrari's first grand prix pole of the season, and the first since Sainz in Mexico last season.

A word for Bortoleto, who out-qualified Max Verstappen, who has not has kind things to say about his Red Bull this weekend.

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying results/starting grid