Norris snatches pole at Hungarian Grand Prix as Hamilton and Antonelli hit with penalties
- Last updated: July 26, 2026 | 11:08
Defending Formula 1 champion Lando Norris took his first pole position of 2026 when he snatched it from Lewis Hamilton by just 0.012 of a second at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Hamilton was on course for a record-extending 105th pole position, and first in a full grand prix since Hungary in 2023, before Norris darted through to take it away.
Then came a twist. A pair of grid penalties dropped Hamilton to fifth and championship leader Kimi Antonelli to seventh for Sunday's race.
"It’s been a while,” Norris said of his wait for pole. "I felt confident all weekend.”
Norris felt he could easily have gone much faster if he'd had time for another run to iron out mistakes.
"I had the confidence to push more," he said. "I got it to unexplored territory from what happens to the balance when I push it that next level, and I lost a bit of time in a couple of places.”
Norris added that upgrades to McLaren's car give him confidence for Sunday's race, but "it’s a long race ahead tomorrow and it’s going to be a difficult one.”
Charles Leclerc took third for Ferrari, .238 off the pace but will start second alongside Norris.
Mercedes, F1's dominant team this year, had a rare off day even before Antonelli's penalty. The Italian qualified fourth and teammate George Russell was seventh. Mercedes could also be facing a repair job after Russell broke down on track on his way back to the pits.
Hamilton dropped to fifth on the grid for the race after a three-place penalty for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
That briefly meant Antonelli would start ahead of both of his main title rivals but then he, too, was hit with a three-place drop for ignoring a yellow flag as he passed Max Verstappen, who had spun at the final corner.
The Australian driver gestured angrily at Hamilton after taking evasive action when he spotted his rival’s Ferrari going slowly on the inside of the first corner. Piastri ended up fifth.
Asked what his main problem was in qualifying, Piastri said: "Lewis not looking in his mirrors.”
Hamilton said he hadn't had the usual radio update from his team warning of faster cars behind and he told the stewards he wasn't able to spot Piastri in his mirrors.
"I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea ... I thought everyone had finished their lap," Hamilton said. "Crazy because (the session) had been clean and obviously it wasn’t intentional.”
Hamilton is an eight-time winner in Hungary and this was a day of regrets despite being one of his best qualifying performances since he joined Ferrari last year. "We clearly had the car to be on pole today and I just didn’t deliver so that’s tough to swallow,” he said.
Antonelli dropped to seventh on the grid when stewards ruled while he had lifted off for the yellow flag, it was "insufficient and unsustained," and that he went faster than on his previous lap when he passed Verstappen's stricken car further round the corner.
That meant Antonelli didn't benefit from the generous approach that was shown last month to Russell, who took pole for the Austrian Grand Prix despite a yellow flag because it was ruled he slowed enough.
It's the 17th career pole in a full qualifying session for Norris, moving him level with a British hero, three-time champion Jackie Stewart. It's also his first since the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, though everything went wrong from there.
The following day he lost the lead to then-title rival Verstappen and ended the day with a double disqualification for him and McLaren teammate Piastri over a team setup issue.
Norris' last full grand prix win came a race before that in Sao Paulo, though he has one victory this year in the Miami sprint race.
Associated Press