Charles Leclerc Left Speechless After Hungarian GP Pole: 'Don't Understand F1'
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc delivered a magical qualifying lap at the Hungarian Grand Prix and nabbed a shocking pole position.
Leclerc is known for his one-lap pace, but even by his standards, what he delivered on Saturday in Hungary was amazing.
The Monegasque beat out the championship leader, Oscar Piastri, by 0.026 seconds.
Both Piastri and Lando Norris looked the favorites for pole position after a dominant weekend, but the Ferrari came out on top.
Pole position qualifier Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Scuderia Ferrari celebrates on arrival in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on August 02, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary.
Pole position qualifier Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Scuderia Ferrari celebrates on arrival in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on August 02, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary.
Photo byAfter the session, Leclerc was left stunned at his feat.
"Today, I don't understand anything at Formula 1," he said. "Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult.
"When I say extremely difficult, it's not exaggerating. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3.
"Q3, the conditions changed a little bit. Everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third. At the end of the day, it's pole position. I definitely did not expect that.
"I could definitely feel it (the grip change) a lot, and I was also on the lower side of the downforce, so when the rain started in Q2, I was just hoping that it wouldn't stay there. It didn't, the conditions changed, which made everything very tricky, and at the end, we are on pole position.
"Honestly, I have no words. It's probably one of the best pole positions I've ever had. It's the most unexpected, for sure."
For Leclerc, the hard work starts now as he faces a monumental task of keeping both McLaren cars behind him for the entire race.
The McLaren has the same flaw that all of the current cars on the grid have — they are poor when following right behind other cars.
Leclerc is well aware that he needs to keep first place through the first lap. If he does so, his job gets a lot easier.
"The start and Turn 1 will be key. I have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I'll do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place," he added.
"If we manage to do that, that should make our life easier for the rest of the race."
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Yahoo
5 minutes ago
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Why McLaren feels it was fair to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in F1 Hungarian GP
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In theoretical race time Piastri's two-stopper was still quicker, but on the twisty Hungaroring he couldn't find a way past Norris despite fresher tyres, which meant he was eventually punished for trying to be aggressive in his bid to beat Leclerc earlier on. It's the second consecutive race Piastri and Norris diverged on strategy, with Norris taking harder tyres at the Belgian Grand Prix in a bid to obtain a late advantage to catch and pass Piastri. Lando Norris, McLaren Earlier this season, McLaren copped criticism after sticking to a more conservative strategy at Suzuka's Japanese Grand Prix as Norris and Piastri were chasing Max Verstappen, refusing to split strategies as it didn't feel the remote chance of beating the Red Bull was worth the risk disadvantaging one of its drivers over the other. Budapest was different, as Norris and McLaren didn't know at the time that converting to a marginal one-stop would win him the race. 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