BUDAPEST, Hungary — One Ferrari soared on the wind. One didn’t.
Charles Leclerc snatched a surprise first pole position of the year for Ferrari during Saturday’s qualifying session for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, even as the windy conditions blew away title-chasing McLaren’s chances to start up front in Formula 1’s 13th race of the year.
At the same time, Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton — F1’s all-time leader in GP poles — called himself “absolutely useless” after he could manage only 12th on the 20-car starting grid.
Leclerc had consistently been the best of the rest behind the McLarens in practice but remained well off the pace of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
That changed in qualifying, with the help of gloomy, gusty conditions. Alterations in wind direction in particular worked against the McLarens as the session went on. Norris and Piastri were each about a half-second slower per lap in the final part of qualifying, compared to the second segment. Piastri called the conditions “bizarre and somewhat frustrating.”