Mercedes Had a Nightmare in Hungarian GP Qualifying
Mercedes failed to qualify on pole for the first time in 2026, with the Silver Arrows not even featuring on the two front rows. A lack of pace from George Russell and an avoidable penalty for championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli sees the German outfit needing a miracle in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Video Transcript
Mercedes, though, I mean, we were worried about them after Friday practice, and so it proved, so it came to pass.
Kimi Antonelli in P4 on the road, I emphasize on the road, we'll talk about him very shortly with what happened after qualifying.
But George Russell in P7.
They were just plain slow, simple as that.
I mean, we saw some of George Russell's lap.
I mean, he seemed to be struggling out of the final corner, but he was a long, long way behind, a long way off of pole position in his Mercedes car.
Antonelli was quicker.
However, there was an incident ahead of him.
Max Verstappen lost control of his Red Bull coming out of the final corner on his second run.
The yellow flags were waving.
Antonelli slowed a little bit, key on a little bit there, a little bit through that section, and as a result, he did not set as fast of a time as what he should have done.
But unfortunately, in the eyes of the stewards, he didn't slow down enough, and as a result of that, he starts down in P7.
He starts in seventh place for the Grand Prix tomorrow behind George Russell.
Russell moves up to P6 as a result.
So despite having a really poor qualifying session, it's advantage Russell.
However, Antonelli is on the clean side of the grid.
He has been consistently quicker than Russell this weekend.
So I honestly think that Antonelli, he's not done too bad of a job on the whole.
You could argue that he made a bit of a rookie error, of course, in the final sector, but some very experienced drivers, and in the case of this session, some really experienced drivers made some similar mistakes and also got grid penalties as a result.
So it can happen to the best of them.
The championship leader is still in a strong position, I believe, for tomorrow's Grand Prix.
Not to win it, but probably to get a podium.
I wouldn't rule it out.
But anyway, a lot of different things happening when it comes to the order of all these drivers, guys.
So I will just go through the starting order for tomorrow's Grand Prix and also put up the official standings as well.
I mean, you guys saw the standings from like 11th down before.
So I'll show you the top 10 here just so everybody's on the same page.
Lando Norris claimed McLaren's first pole position of the 2026 season.
Sir Lewis Hamilton qualified in P2, but he starts in P5 thanks to a three-place grid penalty.
That means that Charles Leclerc's Ferrari replaces his teammate on the front row.
Oscar Piastri moves up to P3 thanks to penalties to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who initially qualified in P4 but starts in P7, and Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen also benefits a couple of places.
He's up from P6 to P4.
Then it is Sir Lewis Hamilton in P5.
P6 is George Russell.
Antonelli is in seventh place.
And then the order is correct after that.
Isack Hadjar is in P8.
Arvid Lindblad, another impressive performance in his Racing Bulls car.
He is P9.
And Nico Hulkenberg, can he smash into the top 10 in terms of a points finish for the first time this year, tomorrow?
I hope so personally, guys.
But let me know your thoughts about qualifying in the comments below.
Who's going to win the Grand Prix tomorrow?
I think Charles Leclerc.
I'd be surprised if the McLaren can keep the pace up from what they were doing today for an entire Grand Prix distance.
But hey, if Lando Norris, if he gets away from the start of the race and he's still really quick, you could absolutely see this happening
