BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Lando Norris secured pole with teammate Oscar Piastri close behind as McLaren ended a nearly 12-year wait for a front row lockout in a twice-halted Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
Red Bull’s Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen qualified third in an eventful session that was red-flagged and then re-started with two minutes remaining when RB’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz joined an unhappy 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.”
The 24-year-old Briton has only one F1 win to his name so far, opening his account in Miami in May, and has yet to win from pole.
“Max is always the challenge and not only the challenge, Max is always the reference,” said McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, sounding a note of caution.
“We will try our best and he (Verstappen) remains the favourite for tomorrow, but we will try to give it a go for the victory.”
Norris set a fastest time of one minute 15.227 to secure the provisional pole, with Verstappen second and 0.328 slower.
Piastri then muscled his way onto the front row with his second flying lap, 0.022 slower than his teammate, before the red flags.
“It’s the first one-two in qualifying for McLaren for a very long time, so I’m very happy,” said Piastri, whose team are only seven points behind Ferrari in the constructors’ standings but 78 adrift of Red Bull.
“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.”
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.
DIFFICULT WEEKENDS
Verstappen, winner of the last two races in Hungary, had an upgraded car but said it felt “like we are chasing and have a few more difficult weekends.”
Tsunoda’s crash forced a halt to proceedings, with Norris leading the queue out of the pits when the track action resumed.
It was soon evident his earlier time was out of reach as light rain fell and he aborted the final effort.
Hamilton qualified fifth for Mercedes, one year after he secured his 104th and latest pole at the same circuit, with Charles Leclerc sixth for Ferrari after crashing in Friday practice.
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 and the only driver to go faster after the second red flag.
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 damp first phase while Mercedes’ George Russell also failed to make it beyond that point.
Russell questioned over the radio why Mercedes had not given him enough fuel to see out the session.
Perez’s crash triggered the first red flag with the medical car deployed.
“It’s a massive job tomorrow. There’s a long race ahead of us, so I think I just have to shut the external noise down and focus on the job,” the Mexican told Sky Sports television.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon and Toby Davis)
