Saturday’s show at the Hungaroring saw fascinating qualifications where the giants lost, and the underdogs ruled. However, much of this exciting show is credited to the new Qualifying format over the team’s individual prowess. Now, Max Verstappen, who seems to have problems with every change F1 makes, teamed up with Lando Norris to discredit the new format once again.
The qualifying sessions in Hungary saw Lewis Hamilton in pole position, who removed Verstappen after a long time. This has been the second time in 11 outings that the pole does not belong to a Red Bull car.
Many believed that the amazing improvement of Mercedes was the cause of this result, but that is not the case as per the top drivers. The duo of Verstappen and Norris believe that the new format had anything to do with it.
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris discredit the new F1 rule
During the post-qualification press conference, an Autosport journalist asked the three drivers in the top seats if the new rule was the reason behind the stunning Saturday. While Hamilton said he wasn’t sure, Verstappen begged to differ.
During the Saturday press conference, he said, “I don’t know, I like the normal format and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.” He also added that there were teams [presumably Alfa Romeo, who was average in normal format, but claimed P5 and P7 after the new one] who were in Q3 and put on good laps, surprisingly.
STARTING GRID 🇭🇺
Here’s how we line up for lights out on Sunday! 👊#HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/N46wpbWpAL
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 22, 2023
Before this, Norris explained how he holds the two drivers in front of him as immediate threats. But does not care much about the back because an Alfa Romeo is hardly expected to get the better of a McLaren.
Christian Horner snubs Hamilton’s claim, assures better performance
Following the conclusion of the qualifying session, Hamilton remarked that Red Bull’s RB19 felt slow at Hungaroring. Which is itself a rare occurrence, at least in 2023. But the team principal Christian Horner doesn’t think so.
Horner claimed that the RB19 would still have a better race pace on Sunday. This has come keeping aside the fact that the Red Bull challenger is mightiest in terms of race pace. Hence, Verstappen’s win is still on the cards, but also at the same time, Hamilton showed that the mighty Red Bull can also be matched.
Notably, the Red Bull driver has his justification for losing out on the pole. During the immediate interview after the qualification, the two-time world champion shared that he struggled with the car’s balance. But it’ll be interesting to see if Max Verstappen manages to put everything in place to keep the winning momentum going on Sunday.
