Lando Norris declared he can be unstoppable for the rest of the Formula 1 season if McLaren maintain the form they showed at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The defending champion claimed his first Sunday victory of the year at the Hungaroring after McLaren's upgrades worked as planned, propelling them to the front of the grid.
Norris claims he was 'on another level'
Norris won by 15 seconds, aided by team-mate Oscar Piastri being held up while lapping Carlos Sainz, allowing Norris to overcut in the pits and take the lead. Piastri later retired with a gearbox failure, denying McLaren a third consecutive one-two at the circuit. Norris acknowledged the help but insisted he was the stronger driver on the day.
He said: 'It wasn't my finest turn two but, after that, seeing what my pace was like and I was just better in every sense, in terms of degradation and pace.'
'I was convinced I could still win the race, even after that, whether I would box or force him to box and I would go long, get fresh tyres and come back through. So, I was convinced I could win the race today, and we did. Of course, it was unfortunate for him and unlucky, because I think we could have had a one-two.'
'But otherwise, just my pace. My pace to stay so close to him for so long. We were just on another level today, and I felt in a very good flow of things. When the car is good and when I'm in a good flow, there's no stopping [me].'
Wolff downplays McLaren's advantage
McLaren's dominance in Hungary sent a warning to Mercedes, who have been the strongest team this season. However, team principal Toto Wolff was not overly concerned, pointing out McLaren's strong record at the Hungaroring.
He said: 'When you ask the artificial intelligence who are the favourite in Budapest, the artificial intelligence is going to say McLaren. They were the dominant team here in the last few years, I think it was one and two, something like this last year. So, definitely one of the good tracks for them, not very good for us.'
'We need to be careful not to swing from everyone is suddenly competitive to a team is suddenly not competitive. I think they've definitely done a step, they are in the fight, we haven't brought an upgrade for some time, and you can see that this is going to be a development fight also going forward.'
