Russell comes out of nowhere to snatch the 'pole' from Sainz

• Starting grid Classification and times

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• Alonso turns 41 "I feel fresh and motivated"

Incognito, out of nowhere,

appeared to erase

's smile .

It was an anomalous event, almost paranormal.

No one in the Hungaroring counted on it.

Not

, head of Mercedes, seemed to understand the first

of his young driver.

When Ferrari clenched their fists in honor of Sainz, Russell took that lap (1:17.377), without a purple sector, but with 44 thousandths of a margin over the Spanish.

Today's disappointment, however, should evolve over the hours, because car 55 has compelling arguments to go for victory.

One of the most encouraging points to

, relegated to the tenth step of the grid, due to a loss of power.

"Nothing works," proclaimed the leader of the World Cup, with no option to attack the Ferrari at the moment of truth.

The other factor that seems to favor Carlos is having beaten

, who had been making him bitter on 10 of the previous 12 Saturdays.

Although the Monegasque still dreams of making up ground against Verstappen, Sainz has this race in hand.

Since the Canadian GP, ​​his pulse is firmer every day.

And who knows it best is his boss,

.

Since Friday, the

computers have given a lead of seven tenths for Ferrari on the medium tyres.

And Sainz has to focus on that race pace to get Russell out of the way.

Of course, tonight it will not be easy to forget that mistake in the last sector, squeezed out later by Leclerc.

Nor forget the 46 hundredths of a margin over the Mercedes and the 48 over Leclerc that he had at the start of Q3.

By then, Verstappen's suffering was already understood, 1.3 seconds from the head, behind

and

.

Nor did the Spaniard find solutions on this track with such pleasant memories and he was even surpassed by six hundredths of a second by

.

From the fifth and sixth places, it seems like a fantastic option to double points in Alpine.

The most inspired detail of Alonso could be savored during Q2, when he was only surpassed by Verstappen and Leclerc, with a record included in the intermediate sector.

Sergio Pérez

, on the other hand, fell into despair, like last Sunday at Paul Ricard.

A controversial rectification by the stewards, who had erased his time for exceeding the limits of turn 5, was of little use to the Mexican. His last attempt, hampered by

, would not be enough to avoid disaster.

and

must invent something tonight

if they intend to get rid of McLaren and Alpine in the fight for the podium.

Because Mercedes also has the unpredictable contribution of Lewis Hamilton, seventh, although he was an early riser in a Q1 where the Silver Arrows had left their mark in the form of a double.

It was a delicate moment, because of the devilish traffic and everyone was trying to get by.

did not hesitate to catch up with his mechanics to correct some detail, but he could not flee from the burning either.

For the sixth time so far this year, the seven-time champion said goodbye in the first sieve.

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• Carlos Sainz Jr.

• Fernando Alonso

• Max Verstappen

• Sergio Perez

• Red Bull Racing