McLaren’s Lando Norris with Mario Isola, Motorsport Director for Pirelli, after qualifying in pole place for the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 20, 2024
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Lando Norris took pole place on the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday with group mate Oscar Piastri qualifying alongside to safe McLaren’s first front row lockout since 2012.
Red Bull’s Formula One championship chief Max Verstappen certified third in a session that was red-flagged after which 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 factors in the standings after 12 of 24 races, on the second row at a circuit the place overtaking will be tough.
“We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us so I’m looking forward to it,” mentioned Norris as he celebrated his third profession pole and second in the final 4 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 quickest time of 1 minute 15.227 to safe provisional pole in the ultimate part, with Verstappen second and 0.328 slower.
Piastri then seized second place with a lap 0.022 slower than his group mate.
The front row lockout was McLaren’s first since Lewis Hamilton certified forward of Jenson Button in Brazil 2012, the seven occasions world champion’s final race for the group earlier than transferring to Mercedes.
Tsunoda’s crash compelled a halt to proceedings, with Norris main the queue out of the pits when the observe motion resumed nevertheless it was quickly evident his earlier time was out of attain.
“It’s the first one-two in qualifying for McLaren for a very long time, so I’m very happy,” mentioned 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 certified fifth for Mercedes, one yr after he secured his most up-to-date pole on the similar 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 certified tenth however his automobile would require intensive restore.
Behind them, Verstappen’s group mate Sergio Perez suffered one other nightmare with a crash in the primary part whereas Mercedes’ George Russell additionally didn’t make it past that time.
