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Max finishes P8 after difficult Budapest QualifyingRead the full Saturday Report from Budapest.

MaxVerstappenwillstarttheHungarianGrandPrixfromeighthonthegrid,whileYukiTsunodafacesafightthroughthepackfrom16thplaceaftertheBullsenduredadifficultQualifyingsessioninBudapest.

FP3

After what Max described as a “tough” Friday in which “nothing really worked”, Saturday morning wasn’t much more conclusive, and the Bulls again struggled. Yuki took top spot early in the session on the mediums and Max went out on soft tyres and set a time of 1:16.547. There were improvements after that as both kept pace with their main rivals but when the final low-fuel, soft tyre runs unfolded neither found a sweet spot and Max ended the session in 12th with Yuki in 19th.

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Q1

Max was out early at the start of Q1 and the Dutchman set the pace at 1:16.346. Yuki slotted into P2, a little over two tenths adrift of his team-mate. Practice pacesetters Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri soon cleared both, however, and Oscar took top spot on 1:15.554, a little over four tenths up on Lando.

As others began to deliver improvements, the Bulls, who had returned to the garage, slid down the order with Max in P12 and Yuki in P17 ahead of the final runs.

With a little under four minutes remaining, Max and Yuki headed out on fresh softs. Car 1 delivered a lap of 1:15.736 to climb to sixth, with Yuki a couple of spots behind on 1:15.899.

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With the Bulls going early, they had a wait as the final times started to come in. Max’s final time was only bettered by five drivers and he went through in P11 but even though he was just a tenth behind his team-mate, the field was so evenly matched that Yuki’s time put him in P16 and he missed out on Q2 by 0.014s.

Ruled out behind Yuki were Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and in last place, Williams’ Alex Albon.

Q2

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Just ahead of Q2, spots of rain began to fall at turn six and when the lights went green at the end of the pit lane, a queue of cars flooded out onto track to get in a banker lap should the conditions worsen.

In the opening runs, Lando stormed to the top of the order with a time of 1:14.890, five hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Oscar, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in third on 1:15.935.

Max’s opening time of 1:16.087, on used tyres, was almost three tenths off his Q1 best but it kept the Dutchman inside the top 10, in eighth place, ahead of Visa Cash App Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The Dutchman was told by GP that the best conditions would come at the end of the session and the forecast was proved accurate. The scattered rain drops quickly dissipated and as the final runs began it was on a perfect track.

In the final runs, with fresh softs on board, the champion posted a lap of 1:15.547. That once again took him to eighth place. Behind him there were no significant improvements, and he made the top 10 shootout sandwiched between the VCARB cars of Isack Hadjar and Liam.

Exiting Q2 were Haas’ Ollie Bearman in P11 ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

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Q3

With just one set of fresh softs available Max went out on used tyres in the opening runs of Q3 and he took his RB21 to P5 on 1:16.183, behind Fernando and ahead of Charles. Further up the timesheet, Oscar took provisional Pole with a time of 1:15.398, 0.096s ahead of Lando, with George in third.

With everyone on fresh tyres in the final runs, Max couldn’t hold on to fifth place and when he crossed the line at the very end of the session his 1:15.728 once again took him to eighth place and he’ll start on row four behind Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who took a surprise P7.

At the top of the order Charles found more pace than anyone to claim Ferrari’s first Pole of the season with a lap of 1:15.372 that put him 0.026s clear of Oscar and four hundredths ahead of Lando who took P3 ahead of George, Fernando and Lance Stroll. Behind Max, Liam will line up in P9 alongside team-mate Isack.