Budapest, Hungary—Lewis Hamilton said he still believes he can win Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix despite winding up third on the grid after Saturday’s (Sunday Philippine time) closely-fought qualifying.
It was only the third time in 12 outings this year that the defending five-time world champion had failed to qualify on the front row in his Mercedes.
Max Verstappen secured his maiden pole position for Red Bull, qualifying narrowly ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
“It’s a long way down to Turn One,” said Hamilton, who is seeking a record-extending seventh Hungarian win.
“So, I am going to be giving it everything I can. I am still in with a chance and third is a position that I can fight from.”
The Hungarian race has been won by a driver starting from the second row of the grid four times in the last decade, including a Hamilton triumph in 2009.
“It’s not a terrible day and it’s not a great day,” Hamilton added.
“Unfortunately, I got to qualifying and lost some performance somewhere, so I’ve just got to figure out where.”
The Briton was quickest on medium tyres in Q2, but could not match the pace that Verstappen and Bottas found on soft tires in Q3.
“I didn’t feel as though the car was really under me,” he said. “It wasn’t the same as it was in P3, for whatever reason.”
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen said his strongest feeling after grabbing his maiden pole position for Hungarian Grand Prix was not excitement, but relief.
Relief that at last, after seven wins and a reputation built on raw speed and confidence, he could tick it off the statistical list of drivers’ achievements in his career profile.
“For me it never really mattered,” he said. “I knew it was a matter of time. You need luck sometimes as well.
“Of course, I made mistakes to miss the pole position shot, but today we got that so I am very happy with that.”
Asked for his overriding emotion, the Red Bull driver smiled.
“That people will stop asking me that question!” he replied.
The 21-year-old Dutchman secured pole with an outright track lap record that was just 0.018 seconds faster than that of Valtteri Bottas who took second ahead of his Mercedes team-mate defending five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
