Lewis Hamilton claims pole position at Hungarian Grand Prix

Mercedes driver will start at front of grid alongside runaway championship leader Verstappen at Hungaroring

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, centre, after claiming pole position for Sunday's Hungarian GP alongside Max Verstappen, right, who will start second ahead of Lando Norris, left, in third. AFP

Lewis Hamilton will start from the front in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix after securing his first pole position since 2021.

The Mercedes seven-time world champion ended his long barren spell to claim pole for a record ninth time at the Hungaroring.

The 38-year-old has again endured a difficult campaign that has been totally dominated by Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

But Hamilton secured Pole on Saturday – his first since Saudi Arabia in the penalutimate race of the 2021 season – finishing just 0.003 seconds ahead of runaway championship leader Verstappen in second with the very final lap of the session.

The McLaren pair of Lando Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri will be third and fourth on the grid, respectively, with Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc on the next row.

Zhou's teammate Valtteri Bottas was seventh fastest, ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso in eighth.

Hamilton has a superb record in Hungary, winning the race a record eight times, and will be aiming

Verstappen – who had taken pole in the last five races – leads the F1 drivers standings by 99 points ahead of his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who qualified ninth.

“It's been a crazy year and a half,” said Hamilton after his record-extending 104th career pole, ending a run of 33 races without starting from the top slot.

“I have lost my voice from shouting so much in the car. We have been pushing so hard to finally get a pole and it just feels like the first time.

“I didn't expect to be fighting for pole so when I went into that final run I gave it everything.

“It has been massively challenging for everyone in the team. We have been focusing so much on trying to improve.

“We'll bring our A game as a team [to Sunday's race]. It's going to be difficult to fight these guys tomorrow. Lando has been doing a mega job; it's great to see McLaren up there battling. And Max, you know Max. He's always up there, doing his thing.”

For for the first time this season, all did not go to plan for Red Bull and Verstappen. “Not much happened, I’ve been struggling the whole weekend to find balance every session has been up and down, admitted the Dutchman.

“Today also in qualifying I found it really difficult in Q1, Q2 to feel confident to really attack corners.

“It was still second but I think we should be ahead with the car we have normally but so far this weekend we haven’t been on it.”