F1 qualifying at Hungarian Grand Prix LIVE: Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen target pole position

Some teams are forecasting a bit more rain in five or so minutes, making these first flying laps crucial!

Therefore, nobody waiting about in the pit-lane – there could well be some traffic out there at this short circuit!

There’s been some rain in the past few minutes in Budapest but it has now stopped – so, how quickly will the track dry?

Q1 underway then – 18 minutes where we will lose the slowest five drivers!

We’re just five minutes from qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix and it looks to be anyone’s game!

McLaren are the favourites given their speed in practice but write off Max Verstappen, as well as Mercedes and Ferrari, at your peril!

Who will be on pole for tomorrow’s grand prix?! We’re about to find out!

1. Max Verstappen – 255 points

2. Lando Norris – 171 points

3. Charles Leclerc – 150 points

4. Carlos Sainz – 146 points

5. Oscar Piastri – 124 points

6. Sergio Perez – 118 points

7. George Russell – 111 points

8. Lewis Hamilton – 110 points

9. Fernando Alonso – 45 points

10. Lance Stroll – 23 points

11. Nico Hulkenberg – 22 points

12. Yuki Tsunoda – 20 points

13. Daniel Ricciardo – 11 points

14. Oliver Bearman – 6 points

15. Pierre Gasly – 6 points

16. Kevin Magnussen – 5 points

17. Alex Albon – 4 points

18. Esteban Ocon – 3 points

19. Zhou Guanyu – 0 points

20. Logan Sargeant – 0 points

21. Valtteri Bottas – 0 points

It’s Saturday night in Bahrain, March 2024. Away from the hullabaloo of paddock gossip and the Red Bull soap-opera, the world champions had blown away the field – again – on their more comfortable field of racing tarmac. Max Verstappen stormed home in first, 22 seconds clear of team-mate Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz, in third, was 25 seconds off Verstappen and Charles Leclerc 39 seconds behind in fourth.

Cheeks were puffed out, gloomy faces descended. After a 2023 campaign where Red Bull won 21 out of 22 races, were we really in for another 10 months of ultra-domination? Would more eyeballs be turned away in the absence of any competitive action at the front once more? Could Verstappen, perhaps, be the first driver ever to win every race in a season?

The answer to all the above, at the halfway-stage of this record 24-race campaign, is a reassuring no. Because, after two years, the others have finally got their act together.

5. Aston Martin – 68 points

Zak Brown does not have the time, nor the patience, for chancers. The straight-talking Californian-raised McLaren chief executive is revelling in his team’s ascendancy back to the top of the sport, fighting the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes. But most of all in recent months, Red Bull.

On track, this front-of-the-pack dogfight has mushroomed between three-time world champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull, and one-time race winner Lando Norris, McLaren. The pair, somewhat uniquely within a sport famous for its fierce rivalries, have a close relationship off-track. A friendship and a bond that nosedived three weeks ago in Austria.

Read the exclusive interview below:

In recent years, the increase in LGBTQ+ representation throughout the sport – whether it be team personnel, F1 staff or members of the media – has seen F1, at long last, move with modern times. Because previously, the overwhelming machismo of the sport would have made Sunday night’s announcement far less palatable to some.

Danish driver Magnussen, who rejoined the team in 2022 after a previous four-year stint between 2017-2020, has not had his contract extended by the American-owned F1 outfit.

French driver Ocon, currently racing for Alpine, is the frontrunner to replace Magnussen as Japanese team principal Ayao Komatsu wields the changes for next season.