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Charles Leclerc was left surprised as he realized he had beaten both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to secure pole position for the F1 Hungarian GP. The Ferrari driver has been on form all weekend. Behind the McLaren duo, who appear to have a major advantage over the chasing pack in terms of performance, it was always Leclerc chipping away.
When the qualifying began, however, things changed. The temperatures fell, and Ferrari, whose car often struggles when this happens, started to have a scruffy run throughout qualifying. This was first evident in Q1 when Charles Leclerc and teammate Lewis Hamilton would narrowly escape.
Charles Leclerc would make it to Q2 on his second push lap. His teammate, however, was not that fortunate, and Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in qualifying. With temperatures falling and rain in the air, the Ferrari driver wasn't expected to do much, as the car tends to have this inherent weakness.
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Hence, it came as a major surprise when, in Q3 on the final push lap, Charles Leclerc nailed everything and ended up beating both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Talking about the pole position, the driver admitted his shock as he called it his best pole position ever. He said,
“Today, I don’t understand anything at Formula 1. Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it’s not exaggerating...It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3. 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."
He added,
“At the end of the day, it’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that. I could definitely feel it (the grip change) a lot, and I was also on the lower side of the downforce, so when the rain started in Q2, I was just hoping that it wouldn’t stay there. It didn’t, the conditions changed which made everything very tricky, and at the end, we are on pole position. Honestly, I have no words. It’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had. It’s the most unexpected, for sure."
Charles Leclerc is not giving up on the prospects of a win
Charles Leclerc will start the race on pole position for the first time this season, and the fact that this is in Hungary is a positive. Unlike other tracks where overtaking can be easier, it can get tricky at the Hungaroring.
Hence, when the driver was questioned about his chances for the win, Leclerc admitted that he had no idea how it would go, but he would first focus on having a good start and then taking the race from there. He said,
"The start and Turn 1 will be key. I have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I’ll do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place. IF we manage to do that, that should make our life easier for the rest of the race."
With this pole position, Charles Leclerc is now the 5th different pole sitter in 2025 after Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, and George Russell.
