George Russell claims first pole of his career at Hungarian Grand Prix

George Russell claimed pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the British driver’s first in his Formula One career. It was a huge shock as he also secured Mercedes’ first pole this season having been soundly beaten over the single lap so far in 2022.

Russell was immense to pull out a brilliant lap beating Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc into second and third at the Hungaroring. The championship leader, Max Verstappen, had a poor afternoon, losing power on his final lap and finishing in 10th.

The scale of Russell’s achievement was put in perspective by how much Mercedes had struggled for pace this weekend and that his teammate, the seven-times champion Lewis Hamilton, managed only seventh. Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren, with Esteban Ocon in fifth for Alpine.

Russell nailed his lap of the tight, technical circuit in Budapest, where bringing the tyres up to temperature is vital and it seems Mercedes finally put his car into that right window. Sainz had set the early benchmark in Q3, with a lap of 1min 17.505sec, a full four-tenths up on Russell. Verstappen locked-up into turn two, ruining his first lap with him telling his team he lacked both front and rear grip.

Rain in the morning had washed the track, which grew grippier as it rubbered-in through the session making the final laps vital, but Verstappen was in trouble from the off as he reported a lack of power on his out lap and failed to set a quick lap time. Sainz once more looked quick but in his wake Russell had thrown his car at every corner to deliver a magnificent lap with a 1min 17.377secs, four-hundredths up on Sainz. Everything had come together perfectly he said.

For Mercedes, this will feel like the step forward they were hoping for. They had