McLaren
Norris was fast on Friday, and he was even quicker when it really mattered. In the mix all the way through, the Brit nailed his final flying lap in Q3 to pip Hamilton by the narrowest of margins. He got a little lucky to avoid two sets of yellow flags, but was the only driver to properly improve as conditions began to change around the Hungaroring as the World Champion sealed his maiden Grand Prix pole of the season.
Piastri can count himself unlucky, as he was getting better and better as the session wore on but had to settle for fifth after aborting his final lap. He found the slow-moving Ferrari of Hamilton on the racing line, and gave his rival a rather sarcastic thumbs up for that moment afterwards. Hamilton was penalised post-session, promoting Piastri up the order.
Lando Norris, 1st, 1;17.207
“It’s a fantastic feeling to be back on Pole – it’s been a while, but I’ve felt confident all weekend. The car was performing very well, and the team has done a brilliant job with the new upgrades, we certainly wouldn’t be here without them. While my final laps in Q3 weren’t perfect, we had the pace when it mattered, and securing Pole is a huge boost for everyone. This result is a testament to the hard work at the factory and the progress we’re making.
“Looking to the race, we’re in the best position we’ve been in all season, but I’m expecting a very tough fight tomorrow. The Ferraris have shown incredible pace, and tyre degradation will be a major factor. Starting from the front is obviously an advantage here, but we need a good start and excellent race management. Beating them tomorrow will definitely not be easy. We need a few more results like this to feel a bit more confident about our performance, but today is certainly a good start.”
Oscar Piastri, 5th, 1:17.684
“We had more in us and we had good performance in the car but were impeded by Hamilton at Turn 1, so I didn’t get to do my final flying lap. I felt like we had made good progress throughout FP3 and into each Qualifying session, especially with the new package, so it was a shame to not be able to show our full potential. It’s encouraging to see Lando on Pole, so congratulations to him, and to see that we are making progress with performance, so we can take positives from that. The team have done a great job with the latest package, so we will keep pushing on that front to keeping find more and more lap time.
“Looking ahead to tomorrow, we will try and get a good start and see what we can do. Overtaking here is tricky, but we will give it everything and aim for the podium.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
“Securing Pole position was a fantastic and somewhat surprising result for the whole team. The new upgrades we brought to the track performed exactly as we had anticipated, and this outcome is a testament to the months of relentless effort from everyone back at the factory in developing and delivering these parts. While we have a lot of progress to still make, today confirms that our development direction seems the right one, and I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved. My thanks go to the team, both at the factory and trackside, for their hard work and commitment.
“On Lando’s side, the team were able to maximise everything which enabled him to deliver a great final lap. On Oscar’s side, he made good progress throughout the whole of Friday after he had missed FP1 to give Leo the chance to run his second free practice of the year. Oscar ran the new upgrade package for the first time in FP3, however he was not able to show his full potential in Qualifying today as his final lap was impeded.
“While we will certainly aim for victory starting from the front, we remain realistic about the challenge ahead. Our competitors, especially Ferrari, have shown very strong pace all weekend, and we believe they are still the favourites for the race. We know we have more work to do to be in this position consistently, but the good news is that we are in the fight. We hope to capitalise on this opportunity and deliver a strong performance for both drivers.”
