Lando Norris says he had to overcome ‘on the edge’ McLaren to go fastest in FP2 as he reveals ‘biggest challenge’ in Hungary

Lando Norris handed the advantage to McLaren going into the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend by setting the fastest time in Free Practice 2. But he’d required all of his undoubted skill to squeeze his lap time from a car that he described on Friday evening as being “on the edge”.

P6 for Norris in FP1 was followed up by the fastest time in the more representative FP2 session on a blistering hot day in Budapest, with Norris ending the day a full 0.243s clear of his closest rival, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

FP2: Norris sets the pace while Leclerc brings out red flags during second practice in Hungary

But he’d had to work hard to extract that lap time from the McLaren MCL38, as Norris explained to the media post-session.

“I feel like we have the speed in the car, it’s just being able to deliver it when you need to,” he said. “You can have a fast car that’s easy to drive – that’s an ideal world – or you can have, more often than not, a fast car which is a little bit more on the edge and a little bit more difficult, and it’s about playing around with the balance of where you want to sit.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - JULY 19: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes — Norris had to push the performance envelope of his MCL38 on Friday in Hungary

“A lot of that is just down to driver preference and so forth. It felt good today, but definitely there’s a little bit more from a comfort side that I would like so I can deliver a little bit more than just one lap a day!”

It was a harder Friday for team mate Oscar Piastri, who lost time with an issue at the start of FP1, before then losing more time in FP2 after appearing to suffer floor damage, leading to Piastri describing “a mixed day” at the Hungaroring after claiming P7 and P13 in the respective sessions.

MUST-SEE: Leclerc brings out the red flags in second practice with hefty Hungaroring crash

“I think FP1 was pretty good apart from the little reliability issue we had at the start,” he said. “FP2, we just need to understand what happened there because something was clearly not as it should be. So just need to go through that and hopefully we’ll be somewhere towards the front.

“I think the stuff from FP1 was not an issue. After that I think FP2, we probably just need to understand what exactly it was that made it so difficult.

“I think we looked competitive in FP1, Lando looked competitive in FP2 and hopefully we can get both of us back up there tomorrow,” he concluded.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - JULY 19: Sparks fly behind Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the (81) McLaren — Piastri had a frustrating Friday

Meanwhile, with track temperatures having nudged 60 degrees Celsius on Friday in Hungary – and with air temperatures consistently over 30 degrees – Norris said that it was the heat, more than any other factor, that could prove the biggest challenge across the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

“Sunday is going to be a challenge for all of us, just staying hydrated and drinking my drinks,” said Norris. “It’s important but that’s part of it. It’s mentally draining, mentally tough.

“It doesn’t feel like the most physical; normally it feels quite physical around here but it doesn’t feel it for whatever reason this year, or this weekend. But more just sweating and losing energy and not making mistakes – that’s going to be the biggest challenge for us.”