But for a snap of oversteer midway through the Hungaroring’s final corner, George Russell could have been on pole for Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix. His last ‘push lap’ ended up just 0.053s slower than surprise polesitter Charles Leclerc for Ferrari.
The picture of relative performance in the final part of qualifying was clouded by huge swings in track temperature and wind direction – but both Mercedes drivers agreed that reverting to the W16’s pre-Imola rear-suspension spec helped them, even if rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli was eliminated in Q2.
