Norris leads McLaren sweep of Hungarian GP qualifying

Lando Norris edged  teammate Oscar Piastri to lead a McLaren front-row lockout ahead of Max Verstappen after Sergio Perez crashed out of qualifying and George Russell was knocked out in Q1.

Norris kept cool throughout the marathon 85-minute qualifying session featuring two red flags and several bursts of rain to set just one lap in Q3 that proved unbeatable.

The Briton set the benchmark at 1m15.227s with his first lap ahead of Verstappen and Piastri, but only the latter two got a chance to set a second lap in the pole shootout. Piastri made the biggest gain, closing to within 0.022s of his teammate, while Verstappen dropped to third with a 0.046s deficit.

Norris was lining up on track to underline his provisional pole when Yuki Tsunoda crashed hard exiting Turn 5. Tsunoda was on his final flying lap when he ran wide exiting the long right-hander, where the curbs and astroturf launched his RB briefly airborne and into he barrier, dealing it massive damage.

Tsunoda walked away from the wreckage uninjured, and a brief red flag was required to clear the debris with just over 2m remaining.

Verstappen opted not to rejoin the session after the flag, correctly predicting that used tires would yield no meaningful improvement. Most of the field aborted their final lap, locking in the order with Norris on top.

“Very, very happy,” he said. “Not an easy qualifying — different conditions but always ending up on top.

“I’m happy, especially for the team. A one two is even better to see, so congrats to the team.”

Piastri lamented missing pole by such a fine margin but also praised the team for delivering its first front-row lockout for a grand prix in 12 years.

“The first one-two in qualifying for McLaren for a very long time — I’m very happy,” he said. “Of course when you miss out by 0.02s you think of what you could do a little bit better, but an amazing result for the team.”

Verstappen was disappointed to fall short despite his RB20 receiving heavy upgrades this weekend.

“The whole weekend I think we’ve been a little bit behind, and I think that was also the case in qualifying,” he said. “I tried to make it as close as possible, but unfortunately just not enough. It’s a bit difficult to pinpoint why that is.”

If Verstappen’s third was disappointing for Red Bull Racing and its upgrades, Perez’s latest lamentable result was frustrating. The Mexican’s afternoon lasted just 11 minutes before the under-pressure Red Bull Racing driver spun himself into the barriers at Turn 8.

Perez took a wide line into the fast left-hander, turning in with his right-hand wheels on the damp entry curb. The car snapped from under him as soon as he attempted to tip the car into the corner, swapping ends and crunching backwards into the far wall.

Perez stepped out unscathed but with his already damaged reputation further battered. He ultimately tumbled to 16th on the grid, his fourth Q1 elimination from the last six grands prix.

Without the second RB20 in the mix, Carlos Sainz qualified fourth alongside Verstappen, though Ferrari was in a different league, lapping 0.469s off pole.

Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth — his was the sole remaining Mercedes after a strategy blunder (see more below) left teammate Russell out in 17th — ahead of Charles Leclerc on the third row, the pair more than 0.6s off the pace.

Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will share the fourth row in seventh and eighth respectively.

Daniel Ricciardo was the only driver to improve after Tsunoda’s red flag, securing ninth on the grid ahead of his crashed-out teammate in 10th.

Nico Hulkenberg will line up 11th after missing out on a third successive Q3 appearance by 0.01s.

Valtteri Bottas qualified 12th ahead of Williams teammates Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, with Kevin Magnussen eliminated in 15th.

Perez will line up 16th, and the red flag deployed to clear up the wreckage of his RB20 defined the drivers who will start behind him.

Q1 resumed with just under seven minutes on the clock and with the track having been doused by a fresh shower during the suspension, but most of the field took to the circuit to be ready to capitalize on drying conditions.

Russell was among the first in what ended up being a strategic howler by Mercedes, which didn’t fuel him sufficiently to make it to the checkered flag. It meant the Briton missed the best of the conditions and was eliminated 17th.

Story originally appeared on Racer