'Pretty broken up in places' - Lando Norris reveals continued Hungary track problems

Lando Norris has revealed that the Hungarian Grand Prix track surface has continued to break up despite rushed actions on Friday night to fix the decaying asphalt.

Drivers were critical of the Hungaroring surface on Friday, with images circulated the following morning backing up comments from George Russell and Oscar Piastri that the freshly laid asphalt had been breaking up.

Following an FIA inspection of the areas affected that evening, some areas were partially resurfaced, including the run to Turn 1, where a bump had caught out various drivers.

"With the new tarmac, and it being grippy in places and not grippy in others, sometimes it feels like a bit of a lottery in certain corners, but I certainly did a good amount of the lap, my best I've done," said Norris, after taking pole position by 0.012s.

He added: "It’s just been difficult all weekend in the last sector. I think you can just look at any onboard, and the last two corners, Turns 13 and 14, have been very difficult to get right. 

"It feels like either you under-drive it, or you push it a little bit more, and you’re hustling; the rear is letting go, you push, understeer, snaps. So, it was just very difficult to know how much to push and not push. 

"Also, because the track is pretty broken up in places and there are a lot of different patches of tarmac in Turn 1 and Turn 12, I struggled to get a consistent feeling of what was best or what the car was doing every time in these kinds of corners."

Prior to his final lap, Norris, who had topped both Q1 and Q2, had been second to Lewis Hamilton. 

Reflecting on where McLaren loses time to the Ferraris, Norris said: "Turn 1 and Turn 12, honestly, were our biggest losses to the Ferraris every single lap, in braking and cornering speed. We just cannot match them in these very slow-speed corners, which we knew from Monaco and various other tracks. 

"We know that we struggle in these kinds of corners. But the tarmac is certainly trickier than last year. It’s normally relatively high grip and very smooth. 

"Certainly, this year it’s quite a bit trickier, with the newer tarmac, which is worse than the old tarmac. It makes it quite difficult to get a good balance, basically. It’s the same for everyone. It’s just a good challenge."