F1 LIVE: Mad Max on a roll, Ricciardo in strife in Hungary qualifying

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo will start from 11th at the Hungarian Grand Prix after a hugely disappointing qualifying on Saturday night.

Ricciardo had shown good pace in Friday practice, but barely scraped through to Q2 in 14th place before missing out on the top-10 and a place in the third qualifying session by 0.077 seconds.

After hearing the result on team radio, a resigned Ricciardo said simply: “Okay, alright, f**k.”

His teammate Lando Norris will start sixth, his best time 0.486s faster than Ricciardo’s.

“It’s another really, really bad day for Daniel,” former world champion Nico Rosberg said in commentary.

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton pulled out a stunning 1:15.419s lap in Q3 to claim his eighth pole position on the Hungaroring circuit and his 101th career pole. Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was second (+0.315s) with championship leader Max Verstappen’s Red Bull only in third, some 0.421s behind Hamilton.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez didn’t make it to the start line before the end of the session, meaning he couldn’t post a final flying lap and ended fourth.

But the Red Bull duo will both start on the faster soft tyre, while the Mercedes duo will both begin the race on the medium tyre.

“It will give us a good opportunity off the line,” a disappointed Verstappen said.

QUALIFYING TOP 10 RESULT

1) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

2) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes

3) Max Verstappen, Red Bull

4) Sergio Perez, Red Bull

5) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri

6) Lando Norris, McLaren

7) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

8) Esteban Ocon, Alpine

9) Fernando Alonso, Alpine

10) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

RACE CENTRE: Full session results

Carlos Sainz left his Ferrari looking less than fantastic.Source: Twitter

Earlier, a huge crash on Turn 11 for Haas driver Mick Schumacher in Practice 3 – just two hours before qualifying – ruled his damaged car out of the quali session, meaning he’ll line up last.

Then Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz suffered a massive blow with a big crash in Q2. Sainz had claimed an impressive fourth in Q1, behind only Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and the two Mercedes, and was looking very impressive. But after failing to post a time for Q2, he’ll start 15th. His Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc will start seventh.

Sainz said: “I was honestly completely puzzled about it. I didn’t know what I did wrong or if I did anything different…I went in slower than the previous lap and somehow I lost the car.”

But he explained that wind gusts were behind the crash, saying: “Instead of having a 10km/h wind (on the corner) I had a 35km/h gust.”

His crash – unfortunate as it was – is a boost for Ricciardo, as Sainz sits one place above him in the F1 drivers’ championship (seventh to Ricciardo’s eighth).

“I would have loved for it to be a lot better by now,” Ricciardo said of his troubles getting comfortable with his McLaren this season.

Speaking of his difficulties with the car, he said: “It’s a bit of everything. It’s definitely a bit of (driving) style… Also on top of that it kinda gives you a different feel, a different sensation.”

“We’ll have the tyre choice tomorrow, hopefully that means something. Hopefully the track’s 70 degrees tomorrow and everybody just melts,” he ruefully joked.

Another driver to struggle in qualifying was George Russell, who failed to get his Williams into Q2 for the first time this season. He’ll start 17th.

The best performer of the day was AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who claimed a hugely impressive fifth – 11 places above teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

“This was a really good surprise…didn’t expect to be right in front of them,” Gasly said of stunningly finishing ahead of both Ferrari and McLaren.

“I expect a very tight battle,” he said of his race predictions.

Schumacher’s damaged Haas towed back to the paddock after Practice 3.Source: Getty Images