Emotional Hamilton says Hungary pole 'like the first time'

Lewis Hamilton was visibly and audibly emotional as he celebrated a record ninth career pole position at the Hungaroring for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix after beating Max Verstappen to the top pot by 0.003s.

It was just 24 hours after Hamilton had signalled his intense frustration after struggling in Friday's practice session, declaring that the Mercedes W14 had felt "at its worst" as he laboured to 16th in the FP2 timesheets.

But when it came to Saturday, warm and sunny conditions meant that Hamilton was able to find the sweet spot that had so emphatically eluded him the previous day, and he put the car on pole in a dramatic finish to qualifying.

It's only the second time this season that Red Bull have failed to take the top spot on the grid. And for Hamilton, it's his first pole in 33 races - the most recent before this being in Saudi Arabia at the end of 2021.

A grandstand full of passionate Hamilton fans roared their approval at the outcome, and it seems that in the cockpit Hamilton was joining them every bit as raucously.

"I've lost my voice from shouting so much in the car." he told the media when interviewed in parc ferme after the end of the session. "A big, big thanks to the crowd here - we have such an amazing crowd every year here."

• Read also: Hamilton stuns Verstappen to claim Hungary pole

"It's been a crazy year and a half," he continued, admitting that the interim period had been "challenging for every single person in the team".

"We've been pushing so hard over this time to finally get a pole. It just feels like the first time," he said. "There's been ups and downs, it's a big, big roller coaster ride.

"But none of us have lost faith," he insisted. "We've all just united together. We're focusing on trying to steer the car into that direction.

"I didn't expect coming today that we would be fighting for pole, so when I went into that last run, I gave it absolutely everything. There was nothing left in it.

"Today we were losing time in turn 4 and 11 compared to the others, so I just sent it and hope that I stayed on track."

Despite today's success, Hamilton said this wasn't the end of Mercedes' current struggles and there was more work to do before they were really back on top and able to compete with Red Bull on a regular basis.

"It has been tough, and it's going to continue to be tough moving on from here," he said. "But I think hopefully this shows that we're on the right track, and we can do it if we just keep pushing."

More immediately, the question now is what Hamilton will be able to achieve in tomorrow's race given that his team mate George Russell will be starting out of position from P18 after getting caught out in traffic in Q1.

"I think tomorrow we'll just study as hard as we can," he said. "We'll bring our 'A' game tomorrow as a team. It's gonna be difficult to fight these two guys," he added, indicating Verstappen and third place man Lando Norris.

"Lando has been doing a mega job," he pointed out. "It's been great to see McLaren up there battling. And Max, he's always up there, he's always doing his thing."

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