Lando Norris got off to a flying start at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday, topping the timesheets in the second practice session, with the McLaren driver setting a stunning lap to beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, his rival in the Formula One Drivers’ Championship, by 0.243 seconds.
Still, Norris believes any number of cars could be involved in the battle for pole position on Saturday.
“It’s been pretty good since today. It was a good lap. I had a good run today, but tomorrow is another day.” Norris said Sky Sports F1 After practice on Friday.
“I think it’s a close trio between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull,” Norris added. “I think there’s eight cars here fighting for pole position and I think there’s some cars like Haas that look very quick.”
Norris was referring to Kevin Magnussen, who attracted attention by setting the sixth-fastest time in Friday’s second practice session.
“It’s been a good first day but we need to work a bit harder if we want a bit more security,” Norris concluded.
At the other end of the McLaren garage, results were mixed, with Oscar Piastri seventh in FP1 but slightly off the pace in FP2, finishing 13th.
“It was a mixed day on the track. FP1 was very good but FP2 was difficult so it’s important to understand why that was. The other cars looked quicker today so that’s a positive for the team.” Piastri made the remarks during the team’s post-training report.“If we can sort out whatever happened in FP2 then I think we can have a strong qualifying run and get closer to the front.”
McLaren go into the Hungarian Grand Prix closing in on Ferrari in the F1 Constructors’ Championship standings, with a combination of strong performances from McLaren and Ferrari’s struggles seeing the Woking-based team close the gap to the Scuderia to just seven points.
Can McLaren overtake Ferrari for second place this weekend? Saturday will play a big role in telling that chapter of the story.
