The key change which ‘punished’ McLaren in Hungarian GP qualifying
McLaren pair pinpoint what went wrong in qualifying after narrowly missing out on pole.
McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris say a change in conditions punished them during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Pole position appeared to be McLaren’s to lose and they did just that when a spectacular lap from Charles Leclerc secured the Ferrari driver a shock pole which stunned the paddock.
F1 championship leader Piastri missed out on pole by just 0.026 seconds and put it down to a change in wind conditions during the all-important Q3.
"Charles has been quick all weekend and even this morning he was closer than we expected," Piastri said.
"Things just changed a little bit and I guess he did a very good job, so well done to him.
“I wasn’t expecting to be second to a Ferrari this weekend, but he’s done a good job. It’s going to be a fun race tomorrow with a bit more involved.”
Asked to pinpoint what went wrong for McLaren, Piastri said: "It always sounds so pathetic blaming things on the wind, but the wind basically did a 180 from Q2 to Q3 and just meant a lot of the corners felt completely different.
“My first lap in Q3 felt pretty terrible because I wasn’t used to it, and then I thought the second lap was a lot better but it was even slower.
"Difficult to judge in those conditions and maybe not the best execution, but I was a bit surprised that we couldn’t go quicker than that.”
Lando Norris still eyeing win from third
Norris shared the same view as his teammate, who he trails by 16 points in the world championship.
"Charles did a good job on the last lap, [he] probably risked a little bit more in these conditions," Norris said.
"The conditions changed a lot and really seemed to punish us in a bigger way. Not too many complaints, we thought we both did some good laps at the end and we were just slow, so nothing to complain of but Charles did a good job.”
But the Briton is determined to still fight for victory from third on the grid, despite knowing how difficult overtaking can be at the Hungaroring.
"I want to go forwards and I want to win, and if I can do that then I’ll get points," he added.
"I think it’s going to be an exciting race, I would expect us to have a bit more pace than Charles, so I’m looking forward to it."
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