Record 90th career pole for Hamilton

Championship-leading Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified second, with the Mercedes-powered Racing Point cars of Lance Stroll (Canada) and Sergio Perez (Mexico) together on the second row. Hamilton will be favourite to win the race for the eighth time at the Hungaroring on Sunday.

He will be looking to equal the record for most wins at a single grand prix held by retired Ferrari great Michael Schumacher, who triumphed eight times in France. “Hungary has always been a good hunting ground for me. But, I am aware that qualifying isn’t everything here,” said the Briton, who lapped the twisty circuit with a best timing of one minute 13.447 seconds.

The six-time world champion said he had not realised the significance of the pole immediately. “It feels very, very surreal. It doesn’t seem real to have 90 poles,” declared the 35-year-old. The Ferraris followed the two-by-two team trend, with Sebastian Vettel lining up fifth and Charles Leclerc qualifying sixth.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, on pole last year, could only qualify seventh and ahead of the McLaren pairing of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. Former champion Williams, which finished last overall in 2019, had something to cheer.

Both its cars got through to the second phase of qualifying and George Russell ended up 12th and ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon. Rookie teammate Nicholas Latifi qualified 15th.