A well earned and fighting century and Max Verstappen F1 career has taken a flight. He is now the 100th pole-sitter in the sport’s glorious history. But before arriving at the Hungaroring, this is what his score sheet looked like:
7 wins, 26 podiums, and 832 career points.
The only mega feature missing on Max Verstappen F1 career’s sensational and growing F1 resume was a pole position which is when the qualifying session at the Hungaroring happened.
21-year-old Max Verstappen F1 career would leave little to the imagination.
Overcoming the heartbreak of missing out narrowly from setting the pole last year at the Mexican GP, Max Verstappen was a shining star amid dozens and dozens of orange-clad Dutch fans at Hungary. What’s more, he happened to snatch the Silver from the two Arrows soaking out all their energy to produce what could be rightly called ‘gold of a qualifying drive.’
No driver before Max Verstappen in the three and a half-decade journey of Hungaroring had managed to break into the one- minute fourteens at the circuit. Max’s putting his Red Bull right on top with a blisteringly quick 1:14:572 provided an exhibition of astonishing pace and sheer guts.
Just how quick was Max in the end?
Just to take cognizance of how really fast was Max Verstappen, in the end, the pole position set by Lewis as of the last year was exactly- 1:35:658.
Verstappen, therefore, went nearly 21 seconds faster than the pole-sitter of 2018. If that’s not evidence of how more rapid have the F1 cars become, then what is?
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put out a blistering drive in the final qualifying session here at Hungary to capture his first-ever pole position at the legendary Hungaroring. Max Verstappen, finally on the pole position, also happened to clinch his first pole in 2019, beating both Mercedes drivers- Bottas and Hamilton- comprehensively to exhibit a truly special drive.
It was a day of disappointment for the red cars as the Ferrari of Leclerc could only manage a fourth, followed by Sebastian Vettel’s fifth-place effort.
The Ferraris could only reach the one minute and fifteenths, Leclerc going at 1:15:043, followed by his more experienced teammate, 1:15:071.
But what was sad for the twin Ferraris was that they were not anywhere in close proximity to the Silver Arrows, Bottas, the faster of the two Mercedes, going at 1:14:590 pipping Lewis: 1:14:769.
Stating candidly that the “car felt good all weekend,” and thanking his team for the great job done all weekend, Max Verstappen was calm and collected as he addressed the media immediately after climbing out of his record-breaking drive at the famous Hungaroring.
But the only man who happened to give Max some competition was the understated Valtteri Bottas who exuded quiet confidence in his talk with Paul di Resta stating he could, “still win the race, starting the second.”
Several impressive names had been eliminated prior to the start of the final quality run (Q3). This included both Toro Rosso drivers, Albon and Kvyat, the Renaults of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo, the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi, and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
But one should spare a thought for the persistent and quick McLarens of Norris and Sainz, the young rookie driver finishing ahead of his more experienced teammate, yet again, at 1:15:800. This is not the first time that the McLarens have utterly dominated the midfield.
To conclude, the Haas of Romain Grosjean finished just ahead of the Finn Kimi Raikkonen, with a margin of two-hundredths of a second.
Glory beckons Max Verstappen
The legendary Hungaroring has been at the center of some record-breaking accomplishments in the past. And this is exactly what Max Verstappen F1 career would hope for as an epic race beckons. He’d be mindful of the fact that back in 2003 when a certain Fernando Alonso was nearly his age, the Spaniard won the first of his 32 Grands Prix wins. Moreover, none other than Michael Schumacher claimed his fourth world title here amid hundreds of thousands of fans.
The track has also proven to be glorious for Lewis Hamilton, who’s gone on to establish a free reign of sorts here at Budapest, winning the contest on 6 separate occasions. Can young Max roar loud on Sunday and register Red Bull’s third win of the season?