Martin Brundle shares ‘bizarre’ thing he ‘didn’t see coming’ at Hungarian Grand Prix

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Martin Brundle has revealed the ‘bizarre’ moment the Sky Sports pundit ‘did not see coming’ during qualifying for the 2024 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Hungaroring is playing host to round 13 of the season as F1 kicks off the second half of its 75th world championship. Max Verstappen largely dominated the first half of the season with Red Bull to score 255 points. Lando Norris was second after 12 rounds with 171 points.

Mercedes also finished the first half of the year enjoying a return to form with back-to-back wins. George Russell capitalised on Verstappen and Norris’ crash to win the Austrian GP. He also scored pole last time out at Silverstone, where Lewis Hamilton won his ninth British GP.

Martin Brundle found George Russell’s Hungarian GP Q1 exit ‘bizarre’

But Russell was not in the fight for pole for the Hungarian GP as the Mercedes driver bowed out of qualifying in Q1. The 26-year-old failed to improve his provisional lap time by enough with his final attempt after a brief rain shower dampened the Hungaroring during the stage.

Russell sat 14th in the timesheet during the red flag interruption caused by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez crashing. He was also 1.341 seconds slower than the lap time his Mercedes teammate Hamilton set for P1. But Russell could only improve to 10th after finding 0.460s on his time.

READ MORE: Five unforgettable Hungarian Grand Prix including Alonso and Hamilton’s spat

Yet further drivers improving their lap times saw Russell plummet down the order and finish Q1 in P17. Brundle could not hide his surprise at seeing the Briton bow out so soon as other drivers overcame the conditions. Russell was also one of the first drivers to do a second run.

“Wow, [I] didn’t see that one coming,” Brundle said on Sky Sports F1 (20/7, 15:30). “What happened to George’s lap? He didn’t find time, others found bucketloads of grip out there. There were 1 minute 17s out on the race track. How bizarre.”

Both Mercedes drivers have bowed out in Q1 once in 2024

Bowing out in Q1 saw Russell endure the Mercedes driver’s worst qualifying this season so far at the Hungarian GP. He had previously reached Q3 for each Grand Prix in 2024 with P9 in qualifying for the Chinese GP his worst result. The Briton came home in P8 in Shanghai.

Only Verstappen plus the McLaren pair of Norris and Oscar Piastri have now advanced into Q3 at every round this term. Hamilton also bowed out in Q1 at the Chinese GP for his only first-stage exit in 2024 after locking up into the hairpin and slipping down the order to P18.