The margins were tiny and for a moment it seemed Lewis Hamilton had finally found his edge in qualifying, only for the seven-time champion to be beaten by but a breath. The defending world champion, Lando Norris, pipped him to pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix in a thrilling, dramatic contest.

Worse was to follow for Hamilton as his very real chance of converting a front-row start to a win in his hugely competitive Ferrari took a severe blow as he was penalised three grid places for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri during their final laps. Hamilton will start from fifth place.

Norris took the top spot for McLaren by one-hundredth of a second from Hamilton’s Ferrari, but the latter’s place on the front row remained in doubt, as he was under investigation by the FIA.

Hamilton said he had been informed by the team that Piastri was closing on him only when the McLaren was already right behind him and that he did not know anyone was still on a hot lap behind him. Nonetheless, after qualifying, the stewards ruled he was at fault and imposed the grid penalty.

“I was told when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming,” Hamilton said. “I thought everyone came out behind me. I was the first out so I thought everyone had finished their lap, and I think Charles was the car that was behind me when I left the pit lane, as far as I was aware. So, yeah, crazy, because it had been clean, and obviously it wasn’t intentional.”

Hamilton’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, was in third, with the championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, in fourth for Mercedes, but the Italian was investigated for failing to slow under yellow flags and also given a three-place penalty. Antonelli leads Hamilton by 45 points and his teammate, George Russell, by 50 points in the championship.

Piastri was fifth for McLaren, Max Verstappen sixth for Red Bull after he spun on his final lap, while Russell could manage only seventh and was told to pull his car off the track after his final lap with a water leak.

The day belonged to Norris, who delivered a superb run for McLaren to claim pole. Given that the team had opened the season off the pace of Mercedes and Ferrari, their upgrades for Miami and further developments added in Canada have proved impressive and they are the first team to deny Mercedes the top spot this season.

It is Norris’s second pole at the Hungarian GP and the 17th of his career, while for McLaren it is another strong result at the circuit. With Norris winning here last year and Piastri in 2024, they may well be in position to make it three in a row at a meeting where McLaren have a record 13 victories.

On the opening laps in Q3 Verstappen made the running but was surpassed by Norris, yet Hamilton nailed his first lap to take provisional pole with a time of 1min 17.219sec, a tenth up on Norris in second, and a chance to take his first pole for Ferrari and a record 10th at the same track.

The track had been steadily rubbering-in throughout the session, the times coming down as the grip increased and the final runs were crucial. Hamilton was sent out early but could not improve on his time and Norris, the last man on track, was on a quick run. Immense through the middle sector, there was nothing in it and he just edged out Hamilton by one-hundredth of a second with a time of 1:17.207.

Given the track was evolving Hamilton felt the decision to send him out early had been an error. “I felt solid throughout qualifying, but for some reason we went out first, which I don’t think was the right call,” he said. “The grip wasn’t there for either Charles or I. We were quickest throughout, so it’s definitely one that got away.”

Aston Martin brought their radically overhauled B-spec car to Hungary in the hope of turning round a disastrous opening to the season. The car was overweight and aerodynamically far from where they had expected to be, while their Honda engine is down on power and suffered from causing severe vibrations early in the season.

The team principal and designer, Adrian Newey, admitted it had been an immensely difficult start. “These first races have been a complete nightmare,” he said. “Hopefully, we can get at least to a point of respectability now, that is the immediate goal.”

In qualifying at least they made a step forward with Fernando Alonso putting an Aston into Q2 for the first time this season, no mean feat given they were two seconds slower than the Cadillacs in Belgium. Alonso ultimately finished in 16th.

The success of the upgrade is considered to be key in persuading Alonso to stay for 2027, with a further development expected for Zandvoort when Honda will also bring their new engine.

The return of the Malaysia to the F1 calendar could be confirmed as early as Sunday, with the meeting arranged after the cancellation of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia earlier in the season. It will take place between the rounds in Baku and Singapore on 4 October. The race at the Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur is expected to be branded as the Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia, with Bahrain funding the event. The circuit last held an F1 meeting in 2017.

F1 is also understood to be looking into the prospect of hosting the season finale at Imola if the final two rounds of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are unable to be held because of the conflict in the Middle East.