Hungarian Grand Prix: Mclaren Drivers Anticipating 'Fun' Race Despite Charles Leclerc Pole

McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both remained optimistic despite finishing behind Charles Leclerc in qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Leclerc managed to secure pole position with a brilliant final lap that was 0.026 seconds faster than Piastri's best time, while Norris will start from third after trailing the Ferrari driver by 0.041secs.

McLaren have been in great form, achieving three consecutive one-two finishes in Austria, Great Britain and Belgium.

Only once in their history have they achieved four in a row in Formula One, from Mexico to France in 1988 with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

Piastri currently leads Norris by 16 points in the drivers' championship, and both of them will be buoyed by the fact that the last four winners on this track did not start from pole.

Norris is anticipating an "exciting" race as he looks to close the gap on his team-mate in the title race.

"I think Charles did a good job on the last lap; he probably risked a bit more in these conditions," said Norris.

"The wind changed a lot, and it really seemed to punish us in a bigger way, it seems. I mean, not too many complaints. It seems we both thought we did some good laps at the end, and we were just slow, nothing to complain of.

"I want to go forwards, and I want to win. If I do that, then I get points. I think it's going to be an exciting race and I would expect us to have a bit more pace than Charles, so I'm looking forward to it."

Piastri is looking to become the first McLaren driver to achieve two consecutive victories at the Hungaroring since Mika Hakkinen in 1999 and 2000, after earning a maiden F1 win at the track last year.

The Australian driver could also become the third driver in the history of the competition to score points in 40 consecutive Grands Prix, behind Lewis Hamilton (48 between 2018 and 2020) and Max Verstappen (43 between 2022 and 2024), if he finishes in the top 10 on Sunday.

Piastri praised Leclerc for his pole position, but is expecting to bounce back from his wind-affected qualifying.

"Charles has been quick all weekend and even this morning, he was closer than we expected," said Piastri.

"Things just changed a little bit, and I guess he did a very good job. Well done to him, but I wasn't expecting to be second to a Ferrari this weekend. He's done a good job, and it'll be a fun race tomorrow.

"I think the wind changed a lot. It always sounds so pathetic, blaming things on the wind, but the wind basically did a 180 from Q1 to Q3, so 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 better - but it was even slower.

"Difficult to judge in those conditions, and maybe not the best execution. I was a bit surprised that we couldn't go quicker than that. Second is still a decent spot to start. We'll see what we can do tomorrow."