Saturday, 6 May was the last time we saw a driver other than Max Verstappen claim pole position for a 2023 grand prix.

Given the start to his weekend in Hungary and his lack of Q3 appearances in the past five races, how Sergio Perez will hope it's him that breaks Verstappen's recent stranglehold over the front of the grid.

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Jack Aitken
Former Williams reserve driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

I think what this means is those who get through to Q3 will more or less shake out as you would expect because they always get a lot of experience on the soft tyre and that's traditionally the soft tyre that is used in qualifying. It's the early stages in qualifying where we may see some surprising results because you are using the hard tyre which I can't remember the last time a hard tyre was used in qualifying, it's a bit of an odd one really.

Right, PR. This is the new format that is in play for qualifying today.

• Q1 requires only the hard tyre be used.
• The medium tyre is mandatory in Q2
• And in Q3, only the soft tyres can bolted on for the pole shootout.

White rubber on all cars as they head out of the pit lane for the first session.

PR: Sorry, can somebody explain briefly what the change to tyre allocation is this weekend?

Ian Fergusson
BBC weatherman

Air temperature is 26.2C and track 45.9C. Wind is predominantly from W-WNW, gusting to 21mph in the past hour. Dry, with no risk of rain.

The McLaren propelled Lando Norris to within a whisker of pole position at Silverstone last time out but do you think the Briton can challenge for a decent grid spot again in Hungary.

You know what to do, Get those thumbs out.

Radio commentary is up and running at the top of the page.

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Red Bull are in possession of a 208-point advantage over second-placed Mercedes in the constructors' championship. Unless their season implodes spectacularly, this title will be wrapped up with a healthy amount of races to spare.

McLaren's excellent weekend at Silverstone sees them jump above rivals Alpine in the standings and slotting into fifth place behind Ferrari.

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Lando Norris deserved that can of cider in his hand after bringing home 18 championship points at his home race at Silverstone. Can he catch Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and move up into eight place by the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix?

Max Verstappen is romping away with the drivers' title once again. The Dutchman took full points, plus the extra prize for fastest lap, at the British Grand Prix and is 99 points clear of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez in second.

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'Monaco without the walls' is what many people call the 4.381km Hungaroring because of its lack of straights and several series of corners to string together.

Lewis Hamilton has been dominat in Budapest during his career, claiming eight victories in total and holding the lap record since 2020 with a time of 1:16.627.

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Andrew Benson and Jolyon Palmer join Rosanna Tennant to look ahead to the Hungarian Grand Prix. They hear from Daniel Ricciardo, who returns to F1 with Alpha Tauri, and ask whether McLaren’s pace at Silverstone is here to stay.

Listen on BBC Sounds here

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The young pup giving a thumbs up is Lewis Hamilton, who has been on pole position eight times at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

He was promoted to the head of the grid from second place in 2007 because of McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso's five-place penalty. The Spaniard was judged to have impeded Hamilton in Q3 and was controversially dropped down to sixth.

Hamilton also secured pole in 2008 for McLaren, while his Mercedes tally at the Hungaroring spans 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2021.

George Russell managed to sneak past Carlos Sainz and steal his provisional pole by just 0.044 seconds last year.

The Mercedes man improved his own time in the fight for the front row by 0.463 seconds.

"Over the moon. Absolutely buzzing,” was the 25-year-old’s response to his maiden pole.

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The Hungaroring gave George Russell a surprising first career pole position in Formula 1 last year.

Russell pipped Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to the best seat in the house, while championship leader Max Verstappen was 10th with engine problems.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t have the same luck as his Mercedes team-mate Russell, ending the session in seventh spot after his DRS overtaking aid failed on his final run.

Andrew Priestley: All the talk will be about tyres this Grand Prix weekend. While qualifying sees the trialling of new tyre allocation format, the race tomorrow will be dominated by tyre wear and teams trying to find the best strategy to deal with that. Could it be a 3-stop?

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The pole fight at the Miami Grand Prix in May probably feels like an awfully long time ago if you’re Sergio Perez.

At Silverstone, the Mexican yet again failed to make it through to Q3 - the fifth time in a row this season he’s had to watch the top-10 drivers from the sidelines.

Perez qualified in 16th place but started the British Grand Prix in P15 because of Valtteri Bottas’ grid penalty. He ended the race in sixth spot.

The Mexican remains in second place behind Max Verstappen in the championship but with Fernando Alonso only 19 points off his tally of 156 and Daniel Ricciardo now breathing down his neck, can Perez afford any more disappointing qualifying performances?

Nyck de Vries didn't put up much of a fight in the qualifying battle with Yuki Tsunoda. Will Daniel Ricciardo do any better against the Japanese driver?

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso 8-2 Lance Stroll

Haas

Nico Hulkenberg 7-3 Kevin Magnussen

Williams

Alex Albon 10-0 Logan Sargeant

Alpha Tauri

Yuki Tsunoda 8-2 Nyck de Vries

Mercedes

George Russell 5-5 Lewis Hamilton

Red Bull

Max Verstappen 7-3 Sergio Perez

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc 6-4 Carlos Sainz

Alpine

Esteban Ocon 5-5 Pierre Gasly

McLaren

Lando Norris 9-1 Oscar Piastri

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas 6-4 Zhou Guanyu

*Sprint shootout qualifying results not included.

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The roar of the home crowd was deafening when Lando Norris crossed the line to go on to provisional pole two weeks ago at Silverstone.

However, Max Verstappen was lurking in the background, ready to pounce and steal the prospect of a British driver at the head of the grid away from the fanatical fans.

Championship leader Verstappen grabbed pole by 0.241 seconds, with Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri securing an impressive third place.

In a session that started in the wet but continued to dry out, Alex Albon took eighth ahead of Fernando Alonso, with Pierre Gasly's Alpine completing the top 10.

News that Formula 1 has extended its contract with the Hungarian Grand Prix means it will be a permanent fixture on the calendar for at least 47 years - having first been held at the Hungaroring in 1986.

Here's the Williams of Nigel Mansell and the Lotus of Ayrton Senna battling down the start-finish straight at that first race, which was won by Nelson Piquet.

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Nulla Pax: I hope the new qualy concept works this afternoon… This weekend has felt a bit flat so far.

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had a chat with Sky Sports after third practice and said Formula 1 needs to have a rethink over the new alternative tyre allocation format.

"It doesn't work," said Wolff. "Teams just drive one tyre in FP1 and in FP2 that doesn't make any sense.

"And then you see this morning, you're not really able to understand the pecking order because we have all gone on different programmes.

"So the main reason for sustainability, let's save tyres, but that doesn't move the needle at all and it's not broken, let's keep it.

Could F1 maybe keep the reduced 11 tyre sets and try a different format? "I think you need to be open minded to make the show better and from the sustainability perspective better," said Wolff.

"But I don't think that is something that worked. If we're not good on the medium then you can fall off in Q2 and not even make it into Q3, where we would maybe be magically."