Lando Norris finished behind Max Verstappen to claim a second successive podium for the first time in F1; Lewis Hamilton was fourth after losing three places from pole on the first lap; watch the Belgian GP from Spa-Francorchamps live on Sky Sports from July 28-30
Monday 24 July 2023 15:55, UK
McLaren driver Lando Norris says a first-lap overtake on Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian Grand Prix "saved his race" as he believes the Mercedes had better race pace on the day.
Hamilton had taken a brilliant pole on Saturday, but lost out to Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Norris' McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri at the opening corner, before being passed by his fellow Brit into the second turn.
While Red Bull were in a league of their own as Verstappen won and Sergio Perez came from ninth on the grid to finish third, McLaren and Mercedes were closely matched throughout.
The McLarens were able to keep Hamilton at bay on the opening stint and then pulled out an advantage around the first pit stops, but the Mercedes showed impressive speed late in the race to get back past Piastri for fourth place, while Norris held onto second.
"Lewis stayed ahead (at the first corner), which was frustrating," Norris said. "But then I managed to stay on the outside.
"I was a bit surprised, I would have thought he'd run me a bit wider, but he didn't. It was close, I'm sure he was still trying, but it's very easy to lock up into Turn 2.
"And it worked out, so I think that saved our race today. If I didn't get past Lewis there, I don't think I would have overtaken him today because their race pace was very strong.
"Their general pace was very strong, I just think they didn't execute a very good race, and that overtake made me get a podium."
Having finished ahead of Hamilton to take second last time out at the British Grand Prix, Norris' brilliant drive at the Hungaroring meant he secured back-to-back podiums for the first time in F1.
The performance also suggested that McLaren are here to stay in the battle for podium finishes, with the British team having produced a remarkable improvement in performance following major mid-season upgrades.
Despite their progress, Norris remained unconvinced that he had the second fastest car on the grid in Hungary.
"It was tough to say. I think between us and Mercedes, we were pretty tight," Norris said. "If you look at tyre degradation, Mercedes are way, way better than we are - always have been.
"If you look at yesterday, Mercedes were quite a bit quicker with Lewis, so I'm going to be the guy that says no and believe that Mercedes are very close, but it's tight.
"Like I said, if Lewis stayed ahead in Turn 2, they would have beaten us today and I probably wouldn't be on the podium at all, and you'd be saying Mercedes are quicker. But just because I overtook him, you think McLaren are quicker.
"So it's tight, they're doing a good job, but also McLaren, I'm very happy with them - they're doing an excellent job."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was adamant that Mercedes possessed the second quickest car, also highlighting the fact Hamilton's team-mate George Russell came from 18th on the grid to finish sixth.
"I think we had the second quickest car today," he told Sky Sports F1. "If you look at the lap time profile, also where George came from, but we just didn't monetise on it."
"The start certainly played a role, but that can happen. It was maybe also we brought the tyres in very carefully, maybe too careful, and you can see the lap time difference towards the end, I think we reeled in maybe 15 seconds - something around that.
"We were missing at the end 1.9s to (Sergio) Perez and just four seconds to Lando, or less, and I think we had that."
Despite his optimism over Mercedes' pace relative to McLaren, Wolff remained downcast over the gap to Red Bull.
He added: "But having said that, you see where Verstappen is doing his laps, tranquil, and that needs to be the target - and that's far off at the moment."
Hamilton didn't appear to necessarily share Wolff's sentiment, bemoaning the W14's "awful" performance during the opening stint of the race.
"The start, actually the initial getaway wasn't the worst I've ever had, but it obviously wasn't as good as Max's," Hamilton said after starting on pole for the first time since December 2021.
"I had a bit of wheelspin, and then obviously Max was on the inside and he ran me wide, and I got done by the two McLarens. So definitely not a great start, kind of reminiscent of 2015 when I fell back from first.
"Then after that I just didn't have the pace to keep up with the guys. The balance of the car was pretty awful on that first stint. A lot of understeer, to snap oversteer, through corner balance - and I just couldn't keep up with them.
"But then bit by bit as we got through the next couple of stints, the car started to become much more drivable, and then the last stint obviously was much better. If we had the pace we had at the end (earlier), we would have been a little bit better I think through the day."
Hamilton did very much share Wolff's assessment that Mercedes' main target must continue to be closing the gap to Red Bull, who are now 229 points clear of them at the top of the constructors' standings.
"I'm going to take the positives from yesterday," he said. "It was an amazing effort from the team to get to where we were and to beat everybody in Qualifying was really spectacular for us.
"It obviously shows that while we don't have the best car, it was an incredible lap, and we have a lot of work to do.
"We're a long way off beating the Red Bull in a race, and obviously now we're behind the McLarens, but we've just got to keep pushing.
"This weekend it was quicker (on Saturday) and no one knows the reason. We genuinely have a bigger wing than some of the others, like the Red Bulls for example, but they seem to have more downforce from their floor.
"So we have a lot of work to do. I'm like a broken record, I've just got to keep telling the guys, we need to go that direction - so I would love to see that either this year or at least on next year's car."
Next up is the Belgian GP, the final race before F1's summer break - watch all sessions of the Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from July 28-30. Stream the Belgian GP and more with NOW.
