McLaren’s Lando Norris is thrilled with his second-placed finish at a “tough” 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Norris enjoyed a strong start but briefly slipped to fourth at Turn 1 as he found his line blocked by Lewis Hamilton, of whom he swiftly cleared into Turn 2 to regain third position behind his teammate – Oscar Piastri who had leapt into second place behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Neither McLaren driver were able to challenge Verstappen who cruised to a comfortable victory, although Norris did unintentionally undercut Piastri in the first pit stop phase for second which he proceeded to hold to the checkered flag once everyone made their second pit stops.
The 23 year-old though did have to weather the late charge of ex McLaren driver – Sergio Perez which he comfortably fought off, with Norris relieved at the result as he commented: “Tough race. Not an easy one, especially with Pérez catching, but he didn’t have the pace to catch up in the end so I’m happy.
“I had to fight for a little bit in the beginning after Turn One but another podium for us, for McLaren, it’s an amazing result.”
Norris also reflected upon McLaren’s progress as he recorded back-to-back podium finishes for the first time in his career, as he revealed that he is “very happy” with the car’s development compared to earlier this season but iterated that the team must “… work hard to continue improving throughout the season.”
McLaren Team Principal, Andrea Stella meanwhile praised Norris for delivering “a very strong race,” especially in his “consistency” within his medium tyres to fight off Perez in the closing laps.
Piastri Proud of “Positives” from Hungarian GP
Piastri finished fifth despite having ran second in the opening stint for the first time in his F1 career but revealed that floor damage caused his podium challenge to collapse, as he explained: “I struggled quite a lot in the second and third stint following some floor damage.”
The Australian though felt that he could take plenty of “positives” from the race but admitted that he has one specific aspect to improve, as he quipped: “I think the big takeaway for me was working on tyre management.”
Piastri also echoed Norris’ thoughts on McLaren’s improvements despite initially not expecting a strong weekend, as he added: “We have made decent steps forward in the last few races. The conditions this weekend have been a good test for us. To still be up there is a big confidence boost and we can look to take that momentum to Spa next week.”
Stella in turn iterated that the team will analyse Piastri’s data to investigate the impact of floor damage upon their tyre management, as he said: “In the second stint, we need to look at the impact that some car damage had, in terms of performance and interaction with the tyres, because we seem to have lost the ability to sustain tyre life over the stint.”
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