The first, true pole position
Excluding the best time obtained in this year’s Miami GP Sprint qualifying, Saturday afternoon at the Hungaroring was nothing short of impeccable for reigning world champion Lando Norris, in his first pole position of the season. The #1, who hadn’t started from the front since the last Brazilian GP, stopped the clock at 1:17.207, denying fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton pole position by just 17 thousandths of a second.
The effect of the updates
A performance that repaid the work of McLaren, which arrived in Hungary with an important package of updates which included the inverted movable wing, inspired by Ferrari’s ‘Macarena’, and a new floor: “It’s definitely a faster car – Norris declared after qualifying to Sky Sport F1 – I wouldn’t necessarily say a better balance because I still struggled with the car, but we went faster in every corner and that’s what we wanted. The fact that we are on pole is certainly largely due to the updates we brought this weekend, so I have to thank the team who worked very hard and did an excellent job. I think I’ve managed to drive very well for much of this year, and it’s nice to finally be rewarded for once.”
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Victory not impossible
Norris thus secured the lead in Hungarian qualifying, but can this be the basis for fighting for his first win of the season? “We are certainly in the best position we have been all season, and I like to think we are ready for victory. It’s not an easy track to overtake on, so I want to be hopeful, but we have a lot of fast cars behind us and I think it will be a tough race.”
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