STRATEGY GUIDE: What are the tactical options for the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix?

Qualifying on Saturday was set up as a battle royal between the McLarens, so it came as quite a surprise to see Charles Leclerc pop up at the end to steal – there’s really no other suitable word – a pole position that had been highlighted in papaya from the start of FP1.

McLaren looked bemused rather than dejected in the aftermath. They were comfortably the quickest cars over a single lap, and look to have the long run pace to match – but overtaking is difficult here, and their internecine strategic battle now has to cater for an extra, scarlet variable.