Hungarian Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap

Event: Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix – Saturday July 18
Location: Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary
Layout: 4.381-kilometer (2.722-mile), 14-turn circuit 
Weather: Mostly Cloudy
Air Temps: 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 27 degrees Celsius (80.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
Pole Winner: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:13.447) 
Result:    Kevin Magnussen qualified 16th / Romain Grosjean qualified 18th 

Free Practice No. 3 Rundown

Grosjean: 15th overall (1:16.866), 15 laps completed
Magnussen: 16th overall (1:17.086), 14 laps completed
Fastest: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:15.437)

Q1 Rundown: 

18-minute session with all 20 drivers – Top 15 advance to Q2

Magnussen: 16th overall (1:16.152)
Grosjean: 18th overall (1:16.407)
Fastest: Sergio Perez of Racing Point (1:14.681) 

Q2 Rundown: 

15-minute session featuring the Top 15 from Q1 – Top 10 advance to Q3

Fastest: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:14.261) 

Q3 Rundown: 

12-minute session featuring the Top 10 from Q2

Pole Winner: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:13.447)
Second: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:13.554)

Recap

Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean qualified 16th and 18th respectively for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix – the third round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship at the Hungaroring, Budapest.

With rain threatening to interrupt proceedings, the 20-car field wasted little time in hitting the track to start qualifying with the Q1 session. 

Grosjean and Magnussen sported three new sets of the Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires for their qualifying runs. Magnussen’s best lap of 1:16.152, set on his final timed outing, placed him 16th overall – missing the cut to Q2 by one spot. Grosjean encountered traffic on his third attempt, scrubbing his opportunity to improve on his fastest lap of 1:16.407 – set on his second timed lap, leaving him 18th on the timesheet.

Lewis Hamilton claimed the pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the 90th career Formula One pole for the six-time series champion. His Q3 fast lap of 1:13.447, a new lap record, beat Mercedes teammate and second-place qualifier Valtteri Bottas by .107 of a second.

Romain Grosjean, Driver No. 8, Haas F1 Team

“I think the car had potential to get through to Q2 today. My second set of tires, it was awesome, I think we went up to something like P13 or so. That left me feeling good in the car. Going onto the last set I was quite convinced we had a chance to get into Q2, the car felt good. I guess we missed our timing and I had to press the neutral button before the last corner to let the queue go. My tires were then dead cold by turn one and that was qualifying over. We got caught and lost our chance to go to Q2.”

Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20, Haas F1 Team

“It’s always difficult with track position around here but I think we expected a little bit more around here I’d say. I had a little bit of traffic on my last sector on that last run. I only missed out by a small margin to P15, so that could have been the difference. You can always second guess and stuff like that. It is what it is, we’ll start from P16 and see what we can do from there. Given how good the car was in the race in Austria, I think we have reason to be happy it could be better. It’s never easy to start 16th but I’ve scored points before from that position. Let’s hope for an eventful race, maybe some safety car action, and perhaps some rain - that could be our chance.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

“It was obviously a disappointing qualifying for us, we expected more after our performances in practice. I think that is the ranking at the moment – we just need to keep on working and trying every weekend to get the best out of what we’ve got. There’s nothing else to do in such a condensed season like this. You need to try and see, at some stage, the opportunity to do something.”