McLaren's Norris completes ‘double top' at Hungarian GP practice

Gulf Today

a day ago

Lando Norris completed a commanding 'double top' on Friday with the fastest times ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old Briton, who is 16 points behind Piastri in the drivers' title race, clocked a best lap in one minute and 15.624 seconds to outpace the Australian by 0.291 seconds after a tense second session at the Hungaroring circuit.
Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari, adrift by nearly four-tenths, ahead of the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari.
George Russell was seventh for Mercedes ahead of Racing Bulls' rookie Isack Hadjar, Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull and Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes.
All this left four-time champion Max Verstappen, grumbling throughout about his car's poor balance and performance, down in 14th place, 1.167 seconds off the pace and three tenths adrift of his team-mate.
Lando Norris of Britain prepares for the second free practice. AP
To make matters worse for the Dutchman, who described his car as 'undriveable', he faced a likely investigation into his disposal of a cloth towel from his cockpit during the session.
From the start, it was clear that the duelling McLaren title protagonists were in no mood to take the session lightly as they traded best laps and, in a final late incident, ran close to making contact as Norris locked up and Piastri swept past him around Turn One.
On a bright, dry afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg - who had missed the first session to give reserve driver Paul Aron an outing for Sauber - was first out and within five minutes ran wide and scattered gravel across the track.
As Norris and Piastri dominated, endorsing the clear impression that a McLaren intra-team duel was in prospect for Sunday's race, Verstappen was down in 10th, adrift by a second, and reported, when asked about his car's balance, that it was like 'driving on ice'.
His teammate Tsunoda was a tenth faster in ninth.
Verstappen's pedestrian session was punctuated by an unusual late incident when he was filmed throwing a cloth, or towel, from his cockpit.
He was expected to face a stewards' investigation.
Lando Norris steers during the second practice in Mogyorod. AFP
And showing signs that he was feeling the pressure, Norris endured 'a moment' when he slid wide on the grass at the final corner and recovered with 15 minutes remaining on used softs.
Like Piastri, the winner here 12 months ago, he switched back to mediums signalling the fight for fastest lap was over.
Piastri has developed into a genuine title contender over the last year.
'I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it,' the Australian said of his title chances Thursday. 'The pace in the last few weekends, especially (Belgium), I've been very confident in and very proud of. I'm more than capable of continuing that for the rest of the year.'
McLaren can reach some milestones this weekend, with a potential 200th win in F1 for the team. It could also be Piastri and Norris' fourth one-two finish in a row, a feat McLaren last managed in 1988.
Piastri took the win last year in Hungary, but only after McLaren had to plead over the radio with Norris to 'do the right thing' and let Piastri past, something the British driver was reluctant to do.
Piastri had been leading but McLaren's pit strategy - which would normally favor the leader - had put Norris ahead. Piastri thinks the team can still take positives from that situation.
'I think it underlined the good nature in the team. It was obviously a slightly awkward situation, but it highlighted that we will do the right thing in all circumstances -- well, ideally all circumstances -- when we're on track,' Piastri said.
Agencies