Hamilton back in pole position: 'Question was just how long it would take'

Lewis Hamilton brilliantly captured pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Briton narrowly won the battle with Max Verstappen: Hamilton was just three thousandths faster. It has been a while since the Mercedes driver started from pole, but Hamilton was confident of returning to the first starting spot.

With his 104th pole position, Hamilton managed to break a record. The Briton is now the only driver with nine pole positions at a single circuit. 33 races Hamilton had to wait for his next pole position. "I don't think I've been on the front row since 2021. I've always had belief that someday if we apply ourselves in the right way, we would get there. I guess it was just a question of how long would that be," Hamilton said after qualifying.

Since the start of the new regulations in 2022, Mercedes has had a very difficult time, but according to Hamilton, his team is on the right track back. "We started this season basically with the twin of the previous car, basically. And so it felt identical. And that was worrying. And so we've been on this journey of trying to undo some of the wrong decisions that we've taken. And it's taken far longer than we had hoped it would take. But we're starting to see those benefits slowly. And we've still got some big steps that we need to take to be even more comfortable in the car, to be consistently challenging the front row."