The seven-time world champion from Great Britain turned out to be three thousandths of a second faster in his Mercedes than Limburger, who took second place. For Hamilton, it is his first pole position since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021. McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri occupy the second row on Sunday.

Verstappen has won the last six Formula 1 races and is well ahead of the world championship standings. His car recently received an update, but that wasn’t really visible in the three free practice sessions at the Hungaroring near Budapest.

Limburger did not set a time in the first free practice in poor weather conditions and was 11th fastest in the second free practice. In the third free practice session, he just had to leave Hamilton behind on Saturday. Verstappen showed himself when qualifying really mattered, but Hamilton was a bit quicker on his last lap.

“It was very difficult,” Verstappen said in ViaPlay. “I would have liked to have had more fun in the car,” said Verstappen. “The updates are working well, but we don’t have everything under control yet. I’ve been struggling all weekend to find balance. It was difficult to have confidence attacking in the corners. We are second, but with the car we have we have to be ahead.”

“We hope we’re on the right track,” said Hamilton. “We did a great job and I want to thank my team for that. Max and Lando will be hard to beat, but we will do everything we can on Sunday.”

George Russell (Mercedes) was disappointed and retired from the first part of Qualifying (Q1). Carlos Sainz was stranded in Q2.