{"id":42703,"date":"2025-08-04T07:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T07:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/42703\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T07:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T07:16:08","slug":"ferraris-leclerc-stuns-the-mclarens-in-snatching-pole-for-f1s-hungarian-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/42703\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferrari\u2019s Leclerc stuns the McLarens in snatching pole for F1\u2019s Hungarian Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, left, congratulates Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco for his pole position after the qualifying session for the Formula One Grand Prix in Mogyorod, Hungary, Saturday.Denes Erdos\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc snatched a surprise first pole position of the year for Ferrari at the Hungarian Formula One<\/a> Grand Prix on Saturday, beating both McLarens.<\/p>\n

Leclerc punched the air in delight as he climbed out of the car after beating Oscar Piastri<\/a> by 0.026 of a second and the other McLaren of Lando Norris by .041.<\/p>\n

Leclerc had consistently been the best of the rest behind the McLarens in practice but remained well off Piastri and Norris\u2019 pace. <\/p>\n

That changed in qualifying, with the help of conditions which gradually got gloomier and windier, working against the McLarens. Norris and Piastri were each about half a second slower per lap in the final part of qualifying, compared to the second segment.<\/p>\n

Still, pole came as a shock at a circuit which Leclerc had called \u201cby far the worst track of the season for me\u201d on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d Leclerc exclaimed over the radio when he was told he\u2019d qualified first.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I have no words. It\u2019s probably one of the best pole positions I\u2019ve ever had because it\u2019s the most unexpected,\u201d Leclerc added later. <\/p>\n

Montreal\u2019s Lance Stroll qualified sixth for Aston Martin.<\/p>\n

Pole position is usually a big advantage in Hungary, where overtaking is difficult, but Norris noted the chance that rain could spring some surprises for Sunday\u2019s race. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I will do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place,\u201d said Leclerc, who\u2019s on pole for the 27th time in F1 but doesn\u2019t have the best record converting those starts into wins. He\u2019ll be seeking his ninth F1 victory Sunday.<\/p>\n

It was a stark contrast with yet another frustrating day for Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari.<\/p>\n

Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix a record eight times but qualified 12th as the seven-time champion\u2019s troubles in his first season with Ferrari continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time, every time,\u201d Hamilton told the team over the radio after he qualified outside the top 10 for the second straight race.<\/p>\n

That came after Ferrari\u2019s executive chairman John Elkann called it \u201ca rough season\u201d in comments Saturday on the F1 website, and defended Ferrari\u2019s trust in team principal Fred Vasseur, whose contract extension was announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

Ferrari hasn\u2019t won a Grand Prix since Carlos Sainz, Jr.\u2019s victory in Mexico in October, when the Spanish driver \u2014 now at Williams \u2014 also had the Italian team\u2019s last pole.<\/p>\n

Defending champion Max Verstappen was only eighth after struggling with the balance of his Red Bull, and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 16th. That piles more pressure on the Japanese driver, who hasn\u2019t scored a point in six races. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, left, congratulates Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1399,1387,1400,390,1377,1401,626,1376,1392,1393,1389,1378,1375,1294,1398,1397,1687,1391,1385,372,6537,1412,1379,1380,80,1388,655,1382,1402,1383,1407,1408,1410,1405,1409,1403,1406,1381,1395,1396,229,1394,1404,101,1386,86,387,1390,56,54,55,1384,231,1411],"class_list":["post-42703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-f1","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}