Charles Leclerc took everyone by surprise at the Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 Qualifying by grabbing pole position for Ferrari in Budapest. No one, not even Leclerc himself, expected this result. Ferrari had not looked like the team to beat for most of the season, and with McLaren dominating the early sessions, almost all fans and experts had already marked them as qualifying favorites. But Formula 1 is unpredictable, and this time, Leclerc was the star who changed the story.
Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 Qualifying: As It Happened
Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 Qualifying started as many had expected, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the early lead. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, didn’t seem anywhere near the top, just making it out of Q2 in sixth place. The track conditions were tricky, with the wind picking up speed, and even some light rain hitting parts of the circuit. Drivers found it tough to adapt as the grip and car behavior kept changing from session to session.
But just when it counted, Charles Leclerc put together a lap that left the rest of the field stunned. On his final run in Q3, he set a 1:15.372, beating Piastri by only 0.026 seconds. Norris was less than half a tenth behind in third. The gap between the top three was tiny, and the entire top ten was separated by just over half a second, the closest Q3 in Formula 1 history. George Russell put his Mercedes in fourth, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin right behind, while major names like Max Verstappen and Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton could not crack the front rows.
Charles Leclerc’s Unbelievable Reaction
What made Leclerc’s pole even more special is how unexpected it was, not just for fans, but for the driver himself.
When his engineer told him he’d done it, Charles Leclerc responded with total disbelief: “What? Mamma mia.” He admitted after qualifying, “I have no words. It’s likely one of the best pole positions I’ve ever achieved because I didn’t see that coming. I really don’t understand anything in F1 today. Qualifying was extremely challenging. It was tough for us to reach Q2 and then Q3. In Q3, the conditions shifted slightly, making everything much trickier. I knew I just needed to complete a clean lap to aim for third, and to end up on pole is something I truly cannot believe”.
Charles Leclerc explained that the changing wind and the tricky track made the car feel completely different from lap to lap. He said, “You have to reset everything you learned in Q1 and Q2 because it all feels different. The way you approach the corners changes,” and he gained most of his time late in the lap, despite a small mistake in Turn 2. He also took a risk by running his first Q3 lap on used tires, allowing him to attack harder on fresh rubber at the end.
Reflecting on what it would take to win on Sunday, Leclerc said, “The start and Turn 1 will be crucial. I have no idea how it will unfold, but one thing is certain: I will do everything possible to maintain that first position. If we can achieve that, it should simplify our race”.
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