‘I gave it my all’ – Lewis Hamilton loses his voice from shouting after beating Max Verstappen to take pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton’s only pole position in the last three years came at the Hungarian Grand Prix and now he returns better than ever.

For the Briton, his 945-day wait for a win ended with his record-breaking ninth victory at Silverstone, but there is one track he loves even more.

Due to Mercedes’ problems adapting to the 2022 regulations, Hamilton was relegated from the front of the grid to the midfield.

But despite driving a number of cars that did not perform at their best, the seven-time world champion retained his status as “King of the Ring”.

Twelve months ago, Hamilton secured his ninth pole position at the Hungaroring – the most of any driver at a single track in F1 history.

And this record is unlikely to be in danger any time soon, as he took his most recent victory at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone from second pole position, not eighth.

When Hamilton arrived in Hungary last year, he had not taken a pole since Saudi Arabia in 2021 – his longest dry spell since his first in Montreal in 2007.

In his second home game, the Mercedes star delivered a historic run, beating Max Verstappen by just three thousandths of a second.

After his amazing lap, Hamilton said: “It’s been a crazy year and a half. I lost my voice from shouting so much in the car.”

“It’s an incredible feeling. I’m so grateful to be up here because the team has worked so hard. We’ve been pushing so hard the whole time to finally get a pole. It feels like the first time.”

“And a big, big thank you to the audience here, we have such a fantastic audience here in Budapest every year.

“Wow! I didn’t expect that we would be fighting for pole here today. So when I went into the last run, I gave it my all, there was nothing left in it.”

Hamilton added later in the press conference: “Today was definitely fun. I know I was one of the last to cross the finish line so I didn’t really know where I was going to be.

“And then when I heard (race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington) on the radio, I just had a big grin on my face and what a feeling, an uplifting feeling for everyone on the team.”

Hamilton’s pole was the 104th of his career and after another year in which he even won a Grand Prix, it remains his most recent.

His disastrous Sunday meant he missed the chance to score his 104th victory in Hungary, as he failed to even make it onto the podium.

However, Hamilton’s resurgent Mercedes is aiming for a hat-trick of victories this weekend and is bringing further improvements to Budapest.

Hamilton’s 105th pole never seemed closer…