BUDAPEST, July, (AP): McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the Hungarian Grand Prix front row ahead of Formula 1 leader Max Verstappen after a stellar qualifying session for the British team on Saturday.

Norris scored his third career pole position and will have his teammate starting right behind him as he aims for a second win of the season. Norris won in Miami in May and has come close to another victory with four podium finishes since then. He took pole in Spain last month and in Russia in 2021.
"We’ve come into this weekend, and the last few are confident we can fight for pole," Norris said. "We are in the best position for whatever the conditions throw at us.”

The Hungarian GP marks the start of the second half of the season, which looks set to be much more hotly contested than the opening races.
Verstappen, who will start from third on the grid, has won at the Hungaroring the past two years despite not starting from pole. He won 2022 from a 10th-place start.

But the Dutchman had no problem acknowledging McLaren is providing Red Bull with its stiffest test of the past three seasons. Norris topped practice on Friday and earlier on Saturday before showing his dominance when it mattered.

"I tried. The whole weekend we have been a little bit behind and that was the case in qualifying. It just wasn’t enough, and it is difficult to pinpoint why," Verstappen said. "I love competition, but I would like to be on top of the competition. But at the moment I feel we are chasing, and I don’t back out of a fight, but it’s trickier.”

It was the first one-two finish in qualifying for McLaren in 12 years.
"It's an amazing result for the team,” Piastri said, before adding that the main goal is to keep both the papaya-colored cars at the front come the race's finish.
"Of course, I want to get into the lead, but we have both cars on the front row and we are trying to win this championship as a team, and we will be smart,” the Australian said. "We want to keep it one-two and we will fight it amongst ourselves to see who gets one.”