Norris snatches Hungarian pole as McLaren upgrades deliver
Lando Norris claimed the first grand prix pole position of the year for a non-Mercedes works team after McLaren sent their car out last in Q3 at the Hungaroring. Lewis Hamilton had already parked beside the P1 board when FIA officials were forced to swap the position boards, echoing a famous Sebastian Vettel incident, as Norris’ final lap shuffled the order at the very last moment.
Ferrari arrived as the clear paddock favourite around the twisty Budapest circuit, and team principal Andrea Stella admitted the pole came as a surprise. “In fairness, we didn’t think that would be enough to be on pole-position in Hungary, where we knew that Ferrari would definitely be the favourite,” he said. Stella maintains his view that Ferrari still possesses the best chassis on the grid, particularly in braking zones, citing Turns 1, 12 and 13 as areas where the Scuderia holds a decisive advantage.
Telemetry data supports Stella’s assessment, showing Hamilton two tenths behind Norris under braking for Turn 12 before erasing that entire deficit through Turns 12 and 13. However, McLaren has closed the gap in medium-to-high-speed sections and actually gains time on the straights. Stella described the pole as a slight overachievement driven by superior execution, suggesting both Ferrari and Mercedes left performance on the table with suboptimal session planning.
Upgrade race wide open as budget cap looms
Stella emphasised that McLaren’s upgrade package performed exactly as intended, but warned against reading too much into a single weekend. He noted that all top teams have successfully introduced developments this season because the current regulations remain relatively immature, creating low-hanging fruit for everyone. The real challenge, he believes, will be maintaining the current rate of progress within the budget cap constraints as the season reaches its midpoint.