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Qatar Tribune
03-08-2025
- Sport
- Qatar Tribune
Strategy the key as Norris closes in on Piastri with Hungary GP win
DPA Budapest Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday with the help of a one-stop strategy to close in on championship leader and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri. Norris enters a four-week summer break nine points behind Piastri, promising a thrilling final 10 races of the season. The Briton got his fifth season and ninth career victory - and a 200th for McLaren - ahead of the charging Piastri, who tried to pass entering the penultimate lap and almost hit him after locking up, and Mercedes driver George Russell. Surprise pole-sitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari faded to fourth, while Norris won from third place on the grid and after slipping to fifth in lap one thanks to the strategy and good tyre management. World champion Max Verstappen had to settle for ninth in his Red Bull and is now 97 points off the top. Record champion Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari was unable to improve from his 12th place on the grid in a weekend to forget. The vast majority of drivers pitted twice while Norris said he and the team changed to one stop after the opening phase did not go well. 'I'm dead. It was tough,' Norris said. 'We weren't really planning on the one-stop but after the first lap it was kind of our only option to get back into things. 'I didn't think it would get us the win, I thought it would get us maybe into second,' he added. 'The final stint with Oscar catching I was pushing flat out. 'It always is a bit of a gamble these kind of things. It also requires no mistakes, good laps, good strategy and that's what we had today.' Norris spoke of 'a perfect result' but added there was still a long way to go in the title race. 'We're so tightly fought it's hard to say if momentum is on anyone's side,' he said. Piastri said: 'I pushed as hard as I could. After I saw Lando going for a one-stop, I knew I was going to have to overtake on track, which is much easier said than done around here.' Looking at his late passing attempt, he said: 'I think I needed to be at least a couple of tenths closer which was going to take a mistake from Lando to achieve that. 'I felt that was going to be my best chance. You never want to try and save it for the next lap, then it never comes, so I thought I would at least try.' Leclerc won the start from Piastri while Norris dropped from third to fifth after initially trying to challenge Piastri - falling behind Russell and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin. Norris soon got past Alonso again but found no way to get ahead of Russell while Piastri had no chance to pass the leading Lecelerc. Norris was swept into first place once the others pitted, and got his fresh rubbers much later in lap 32 as the strategy became clear. Further back, Verstappen and Hamilton found themselves in a tussle for 11th place which Verstappen won as Hamilton ran wide after they almost made contact. The incident was to be reviewed post-race. After the second round of pit stops Piastri soon swept past Leclerc and then started to hunt down Norris. He came within striking distance but his attempt entering the penultimate lap but fell short as Norris held on with his old tryres. Russell meanwhile dipped past Leclerc with eight laps left but was lucky when Leclerc almost drove into him. The Monegasque was hit with a five-second penalty over the incident. 'It was a bit dicey with Charles at some points,' Russell said. 'I think we made contact the second time. Just glad to get through it and a nice way to go into the break.' Alonso held on to fifth, ahead of impressive Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson, Verstappen and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda managed no bethher than 17th.
Qatar Tribune
02-08-2025
- Automotive
- Qatar Tribune
Ferrari's Leclerc beats McLarens for surprise maiden Hungary GP pole
DPA Budapest Charles Leclerc stunned the favoured McLarens when he claimed a first Formula One Grand Prix pole position of the season for Ferrari on Saturday in Hungary. Leclerc clocked 1 minute 15.372 seconds on the 4.381 kilometres Hungaroring for his 27th career pole in a tight session in which the top four were separated by just over five-hundredths of a second. Championship leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren was .026 of a second adrift in second, his team-mate Lando Norris was third with a deficit of .041, and Mercedes driver George Russell in fourth was .053 off the pace. The McLarens had dominated all three practice sessions in Budapest and were also the big favourites in qualifying where however a few rain drops early on, changed wind conditions and lower track temperature may have helped Leclerc. 'Honestly, I have no words. It's probably one of the best pole positions I've ever had. It's the most unexpected, for sure,' the driver from Monaco said. 'The whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it's not exaggerating. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3. 'In Q3, the conditions changed a little bit. Everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third. At the end of the day, it's pole position. I definitely did not expect that.' Piastri admitted 'I wasn't expecting to be second to a Ferrari this weekend. 'I think the wind changed a lot. It always sounds so pathetic blaming things on the wind. It did a 180 from Q2 to Q3 and meant a lot of the corners felt completely different. 'It was difficult to judge in those conditions and maybe not the best execution. I was surprised we couldn't go quicker than that. 'Second is still a decent spot to start so we'll see what we can do tomorrow.' Norris struck a similar note and remained upbeat for Sunday's race where hopes to cut the gap of 16 points on Piastri before a four-week summer break. 'I want to go forwards, I want to win. And if I can do that, then I'll get points. 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,' Norris said. Leclerc said that 'the start and turn 1 will be key. 'I have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I'll do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place. IF we manage to do that, that should make our life easier for the rest of the race,' he said. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull was eighth while his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg were prominent drivers not to make it past Q1 in 16th and 19th place, respectively.
