Live: Piastri starts third for Hungarian GP, Bahrain replacement settled

He starts 19th for today’s race.

Could be a long day for the Williams.

Sergio Perez (Cadillac) is going to start in the pit lane for today’s race.

He was set to line up in 22nd and last spot, so having a few tinkers of the set up would almost certainly be worth it.

The tarmac is apparently 54 degrees Celsius according to the Mercedes team engineers.

That’s pretty warm.

Malaysia’s Sepang circuit will host a rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix in October, Formula One announced earlier.

The Liberty Media group said in a statement at the Hungarian Grand Prix that the October 4 race at the circuit near Kuala Lumpur’s international airport would officially be designated the ‘Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia’.

“This is fantastic news for our fans,” said Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali of the agreement between the governments of Malaysia and Bahrain as well as the governing FIA and Formula One.

“They will continue to enjoy a full and exciting Formula One calendar, while also seeing the sport return to a great venue.

“Sepang holds a special place in Formula One history. It will provide a spectacular setting for racing and an unforgettable experience for fans at the circuit and watching around the world.”

The cancellations of April’s race at Sakhir, and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, were due to the Iran war and the situation in the Middle East.

The addition of Sepang takes the championship back to 23 races, although there is continuing speculation about whether the last two rounds of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will happen.

Italy’s Imola, a home circuit for Ferrari, is being considered as a replacement finale should those Middle Eastern races also not happen, according to informed sources at the Hungaroring.

The rescheduled Bahrain race, at a circuit that last hosted Formula One in 2017 but is a MotoGP fixture, will slot in between the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 26 and Singapore on October 11.

There are several precedents to one country holding a race with the name of another: Germany’s Nürburgring hosted a Luxembourg Grand Prix, the San Marino Grand Prix was held for many years at Imola and the Swiss Grand Prix was held in France.

Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat owns Formula One champions McLaren and the grand prix is the kingdom’s biggest annual sporting event, serving to promote Bahrain internationally.

The country, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has come under attack from Iranian missiles and drones.

It usually pays tens of millions of dollars in hosting fees to Formula One and sources indicated Bahrain would be covering the bulk of the costs involved in the rescheduling.

The event remains subject to final agreements and approval of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.

Reuters

The race is going to get underway at 11:00pm AEST.

That’s the time in Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and Tasmania.

In South Australia and the Northern Territory you’re looking at a 10:30pm start and in Western Australia, it’s a far more palatable 9:00pm start.

Lando Norris‘s pole in an upgraded car came as a nice surprise to champions McLaren, team boss Andrea Stella said on Saturday.

However, he said Ferrari are still favourites to win today’s race.

Reigning world champion Norris beat Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by 0.012 of a second in the session at the Hungaroring to become the first non-Mercedes driver this season to take a grand prix pole.

Oscar Piastri starts third at a track where overtaking could be tricky and the start is likely to be another key factor.

“This is a nice surprise. We had some upgrades here and saw they were working well. We added a few tenths to the car but we never thought this would be enough to put the car on pole position,” Stella told Sky Sports television.

“Honestly, tomorrow, the Ferraris remain the favourites. Even in qualifying, none of them improved on the second attempt, so I think they left a little bit of performance on the table.

“We take the encouraging indications that come from the result but we remain realistic. There’s still quite a lot of work to do ahead of us to be consistently in the position we are in today.”

– with Reuters

Lando Norris said he was very happy to put some of his bad luck behind him and sit on pole after a very strong qualifying session on Saturday.

“It’s just nice to be on pole,” Norris said, relieved at what was his first number one start of the season.

“I have felt good all weekend.

“The last few weekends, honestly, I felt pretty good and it’s been nice I continued my good feelings in the car.

“I had my money on Ferrari before the weekend and they have been insanely quick, but, come qualifying, we just seemed to take more of a step forward.

“I knew it was possible and that has been a good feeling – and one that I have missed for quite a while.”

Will Norris manage to maintain his performance in qualifying and head into the race?

“The race pace on others looked very strong. It is always a bit tricky to know how things will go with a new car and new bits,” he said.

McLaren do have an upgrade that they’ve deployed this weekend, and it seems to have worked a treat so far.

We’ll see whether their extra qualifying pace can be converted into race pace…

Lewis Hamilton was set to start on the front of the grid today, only for a penalty to push him down to fifth.

He posted a lengthy statement on Instagram where he bemoaned some of his luck.

“Sometimes you just can’t catch a break,” he wrote.

“Another weekend when I’ve been feeling great throughout all the sessions, but then it just falls apart. To go from being so close to pole to then starting P5 is extremely frustrating.

“I always do my best to keep positive — sport is always about the highs and lows, but it’s also in the margins. Every point counts and you have to seize every opportunity.

“After 3 penalties in 3 weekends, it’s becoming difficult to hang on to that positivity.

“Still, I won’t let the setbacks take away from the progress we’ve been making as a team. With the pace we have, I’m hopeful we can get something out of the race tomorrow. The car has been feeling better and better, and we’ve been competitive all weekend.

“Tonight, we’ll keep working hard together to give ourselves the best possible chance tomorrow. I always enjoy this track, so keep the faith and send good vibes for the race.”

So there you go.

Overtaking here is not easy – although who knows how it will work with the Mario carts of this season.

But you can feel the frustration oozing out of Hamilton’s statement there.

Hello Phillip – sport never sleeps, so why should we, hey?

The great Mick Doyle will be back for the Dutch Grand Prix next month, but he’s taking a well earned break this weekend.

Either that or he’s been banned for talking about gear ratios and energy harvesting one too many times in the office.

As for the penalties – the punishment perhaps doesn’t seem to fit the crime, you’re right.

Here’s what Ferrari and Hamilton said about it, by the way.

“I didn’t know he was coming,” Hamilton said.

“I thought everyone had finished their lap. It wasn’t intentional.”

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur said it was the team’s mistake, with Hamilton not receiving the radio message in time.

Missed qualifying? Well where were you?

Qualifying resulted in a couple of grid penalties for a couple of big names, which moved Oscar Piastri up to third place on the grid.

His teammate Lando Norris qualified fastest, but it was Lewis Hamilton, who was ruled to have impeded Piastri, who was bumped off the front of the grid and down to fifth with a three-place grid penalty.

Charles Leclerc has taken his spot, just ahead of Piastri in third.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was also given a three-place grid penalty for not slowing down enough under single yellow flags, which dropped him from fourth, which is where Max Verstappen, who was the man who spun resulting in those yellow flags, now starts. Hmmm.

Here’s how the grid lines up:

1. Lando Norris (McLaren)
2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
6. George Russell (Mercedes)
7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
8. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
9. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)
11. Liam Lawson
    (Racing Bulls)
12. Pierre Gasly
    (Alpine)
13. Franco Colapinto
    (Alpine)
14. Gabriel Bortoleto
    (Audi)
15. Esteban Ocon
    (Haas)
16. Fernando Alonso
    (Aston Martin)
17. Oliver Bearman
    (Haas)
18. Carlos Sainz Jnr
    (Williams)
19. Alexander Albon
    (Williams)
20. Lance Stroll
    (Aston Martin)
21. Valtteri Bottas
    (Cadillac)
22. Sergio Perez
    (Cadillac)

Hello and welcome to the ABC Sport coverage of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

My name is Simon Smale and I am here as the Formula 1 circuit makes its way to Hungary ahead of a much-needed summer break.

After today’s race, there’s almost a month before the entire circus rolls up at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.

So that means there is an impetus for the teams to want to end this phase of the season on a high, heading into their summer holidays in an upbeat mood, rather than stewing over an unfulfilled race day.

So let’s see who will leave the Hungaroring with a smile on their dial, shall we?