Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took a surprise pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix as team-mate Lewis Hamilton could only manage 12th.
Drivers’ championship leader Oscar Piastri and title rival Lando Norris had been expected to fight for pole but the McLaren duo were left to settle for second and third respectively.
Leclerc saw off Piastri by just 0.026 seconds, with Norris 0.015 behind the Australian. George Russell finished fourth for Mercedes.
McLaren had dominated all weekend at the Hungaroring with Norris fastest in both sessions on Friday, and Piastri – who leads his team-mate by 16 points in the world championship – quickest in the concluding running prior to qualifying.
But Leclerc pulled a mighty lap out of the bag to secure both his and Ferrari’s first pole of the season.
“It is probably one of the best poles I have had because it is so unexpected,” said Leclerc.
It was a less positive outing for Hamilton, who holds a record eight wins and nine pole positions in Hungary, but a week on from qualifying 16th at Spa-Francorchamps suffered another setback when he was knocked out in Q2.
The seven-time world champion has now been outqualified by Leclerc in 10 of the 14 rounds so far.
“Every time, every time,” said the British driver after he was informed of his early exit.
Hamilton emerged from his cockpit and walked towards the Ferrari motorhome holding his gloves in front of his visor to obstruct the full glare of the waiting TV cameras.
Hamilton’s lowly grid slot looks set to extend his run without a podium finish to 14 races. Until this season he had never gone more than 10 races into a campaign without finishing in the top three.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll qualified fifth and sixth respectively, with reigning champion Max Verstappen eighth behind Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar rounding out the top 10.
In Formula Two, Irish driver Alex Dunne took second in Saturday’s sprint race to earn eight points in the drivers’ championship.
The 19-year-old, racing for Rodin Motorsport, challenged Josep María Martí near the finish of the 28-lap sprint but was forced wide for the Red Bull driver to take the chequered flag.
Dunne will start Sunday’s feature race from fifth on the grid after Saturday’s qualifying session.
The Offaly driver is now level with Jak Crawford on 122 points, just five points adrift of championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli and a single point behind second-place Richard Verschoor.
