George Russell stole the show at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday by earning his first career pole and first of the season for Mercedes — on the same day Formula One champion and current points leader Max Verstappen qualified a season-worst 10th.
Russell screamed in celebration after a fast final qualifying lap helped him beat Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz Jr and Charles Leclerc.
“Whooooo, come on. Yes. Hahahaha. You beauty. You beauty,” yelled Russell before jumping into the arms of his engineers.
The Mercedes pace was surprising because Russell said that Mercedes’ second practice was “disastrous” on Friday, when he was about a full second slower than Leclerc’s leading time.
“For us as a team it’s massive. We were all here until 11pm last night scratching our heads, and we all felt pretty lost,” Russell said. “To come back and grab pole position is an amazing feeling. We absolutely nailed today, 100 percent.”
Verstappen unleashed expletives as his qualifying bid was undone.
He struggled with grip then complained of having “no power ... nothing works” on his second attempt.
“I still don’t know what it is. I need to talk to the team, but I hope everything is fixable,” Verstappen said. “I know this track is very hard to pass at, so we have to be patient. This year has shown that a lot of things can happen.”
Lando Norris of McLaren qualified fourth followed by Esteban Ocon of Alpine and teammate Fernando Alonso, and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.
Russell, who replaced Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes this year, landed his seat in part by overperforming for struggling backmarker Williams last year with an incredible performance in the wet to qualify second for the Belgian Grand Prix.
“Dare I say better than the Spa one?” Russell said. “This is what racing’s all about. This is why I want to become world champion.”
Russell has what it takes to reach the top, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said.
“This is one of many milestones to come. George is a champion in the making,” Wolff said. “We would never have put him in a Mercedes if he didn’t think he could become a world champion.”
Hamilton had some bad luck as his drag reduction system (DRS) stuck.
“My DRS stopped working, which was frustrating after all the struggle we had to finally have the chance to fight for front row,” Hamilton said.
“We didn’t know how strong our pace was and where it came from, so it’s a very positive day for us. Huge congratulations to George, it’s an amazing feeling to get your first pole,” he said.
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