Norris and Piastri hail their car for impressive qualifying showing

F1 Grand Prix, GP Hungary, Hungaroring

McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri hailed the Woking-based outfits’ efforts in recent months after locking out the front row for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Having displayed eye-catching performance all through the weekend, Lando Norris pipped his team-mate Oscar Piastri by just 0.022s to claim his third pole position in a thrilling and tight qualifying session threatened by light rain.

Despite his starting position, Norris expects a tough race today with conditions set to change for Sunday.

“I’m very happy with that! It wasn’t an easy qualifying session with the constant changing conditions, but we’ve been improving steadily and have come into this weekend confident that we can do a good job.

“Congratulations to the team – having a 1-2 here is brilliant and a great reward for everyone’s hard work.

“Looking ahead to tomorrow, the conditions may be different again, but we’re in the best position to cope with whatever the weather delivers. The car is going fine, I feel like I’m driving well and we’re looking forward to putting in another strong performance on track.”

His team-mate Oscar Piastri’s first lap in Q3 wasn’t enough for the front row as he made a little mistake into Turn 1. However, the Australian put it together on his final lap to squeeze another one in before the red flags to make it a McLaren front row lock-out.

“Very cool to be on the front row and a great result for the team. My final lap was a good one, though to miss out on pole by a couple of hundredths, you’re always thinking of the small things you could have done a little better.

“We had a bit of a tricky day on my side of the garage yesterday, but everyone worked hard, and it was nice to bounce back well this morning. We then built on that this afternoon with a positive Quali in challenging conditions. Let’s start strong tomorrow and secure a mega result for the team!”

Expanding on his team's performance, Andrea Stella noted that he was delighted with his team's performance, praising not only the trackside team, but also the factory's work.

“This is a great qualifying result for the team both at track and back in Woking and a testament to the consistent effort and resilience they have shown this season. To have both drivers on the front row says so much about our driver line-up and the pace of the car of which the whole team can be proud.

“Of course, now our attention turns to the race, which is the result that really matters. We have put ourselves in the best possible starting position, but there are many factors both inside and outside our control to now navigate and for that we now prepare.”