McLaren’s Lando Norris with Mario Isola, Motorsport Director for Pirelli, after qualifying in pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 20, 2024
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Lando Norris took pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday with team mate Oscar Piastri qualifying alongside to secure McLaren’s first front row lockout since 2012.
Red Bull’s Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen qualified third in a session that was red-flagged and then re-started with two minutes remaining when RB’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz joined triple champion Verstappen, who leads Norris by 84 points in the standings after 12 of 24 races, on the second row at a circuit where overtaking can be tricky.
“We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us so I’m looking forward to it,” said Norris as he celebrated his third career pole and second in the last four races.
“Two cars at the front row, we can control it from there, so as long as we stay where we are we’ll be happy.”
Norris set a fastest time of one minute 15.227 to secure provisional pole in the final phase, with Verstappen second and 0.328 slower.
Piastri then seized second place with a lap 0.022 slower than his team mate.
The front row lockout was McLaren’s first since Lewis Hamilton qualified ahead of Jenson Button in Brazil 2012, the seven times world champion’s last race for the team before moving to Mercedes.
Tsunoda’s crash forced a halt to proceedings, with Norris leading the queue out of the pits when the track action resumed but it was soon evident his earlier time was out of reach.
“It’s the first one-two in qualifying for McLaren for a very long time, so I’m very happy,” said Piastri.
“Of course when I miss out by two 100ths you think of all the little things you can do a bit better but it’s an amazing result for the team.”
Hamilton qualified fifth for Mercedes, one year after he secured his most recent pole at the same circuit, with Charles Leclerc sixth for Ferrari after crashing on Friday.
The Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will line up seventh and eighth on the grid with Australian Daniel Ricciardo ninth for RB.
Tsunoda qualified 10th but his car will require extensive repair.
Behind them, Verstappen’s team mate Sergio Perez suffered another nightmare with a crash in the first phase while Mercedes’ George Russell also failed to make it beyond that point.
