Norris takes ‘pole’ in Hungary by a blink

Rarely had a blink of an eye meant so much as this Saturday in Hungary. The twelve thousandths of a second that separated Lando Norris from Lewis Hamilton at the end of the third qualifying session allowed the Mercedes driver to celebrate his first pole position as world champion; they broke Mercedes’ hegemony, which had accumulated all of them since the season began, and also denied Hamilton the possibility of setting another historic record, one that would have credited him as the only one capable of starting without traffic ten times on the same circuit. In a weekend where Ferrari had positioned itself as the benchmark if we go by Friday’s free practice sessions, and on Saturday both Norris and McLaren emerged strongly, with McLaren bringing a truckload of improvements for their car to Budapest – five new aerodynamic components were counted on the MCL 40. The Somerset (Great Britain) driver’s last-gasp effort allowed him to snatch Saturday’s glory from his compatriot by a ridiculous margin, twelve thousandths, something imperceptible to the human eye at the speed these beasts circulate.

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At Hungaroring, Norris’s prototype crossed the finish line on its final lap at 270 kilometers per hour. With that in mind, the 12 thousandths that separated him from Hamilton project a gap of 90 centimeters, less than a meter. Such narrow margins give an idea of the equality experienced on one of the shortest and slowest tracks on the calendar, where grid positions have a tremendous influence on what happens next. Hamilton’s annoyance at the end of the official session was evident, both because of the strategic error that, in his opinion, the Scuderia had made by sending him out on track first; and because of the shadow of a penalty he saw coming from afar, having impeded Oscar Piastri’s attempt at a fast lap.

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“We have brought some improvements to the car. Although it’s difficult to calculate how much they contribute, they certainly help,” said Norris, who hadn’t been on pole since last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. “I feel like I lost that pole, because I think we showed we were the fastest. Anyway, it wasn’t right to be the first out,” Hamilton stressed.

Aston Martin is on the rise

If everything seems set for McLaren, Ferrari, and surely Mercedes to contest one of the most open races of the season, the battle behind them intensifies with Aston Martin’s leap in quality. The arsenal of new parts with which the British team revitalized the AMR26 confirmed the green car’s step forward, at least in the hands of Fernando Alonso, who for the first time this year made it into the second qualifying session (Q2). The Asturian will start 16th, two positions ahead of Carlos Sainz, who will start 18th, lost as the Madrid native is in the muddle Williams is in.

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