Norris and McLaren almost perfect as Ferrari flounder in Hungary

Lando Norris secured a dominant victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, marking a significant achievement after a challenging start to the Formula 1 season for both himself and McLaren. Norris described the win as "one of my best performances," highlighting his exceptional drive.

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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.

The race saw pre-race favorites Ferrari falter significantly. Their team boss, Frederic Vasseur, admitted they made "too many mistakes." In contrast, Norris and McLaren executed a near-perfect strategy. Despite an early error on the first lap where Norris slid wide at Turn Two, gifting his position to teammate Oscar Piastri, he remained composed.

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The pace advantage I had was huge today. But I don't know why. The cars are identical, and I've just been feeling very strong lately.

Norris demonstrated remarkable pace and tire management, convincing himself he could still win. "The pace advantage I had was huge today," he stated. "The fact I could keep up with Oscar on this kind of track, where it's impossible to follow and impossible to overtake... I was within 0.8 seconds or something for, I don't know, almost 40 laps, the fact I could do this is what gave me confidence that I'd win the race no matter what."

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I've worked on many areas from last year. I feel much more confident lately with how to extract performance, and I've worked a lot with my engineers to understand this car because it's certainly not an easy car to understand and figure out how to drive on the limit consistently.

McLaren's strategic decision to pit Piastri around mid-distance to cover Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari provided Norris with clear air. He capitalized on this, setting a blistering pace. While Piastri was later involved in a collision with Carlos Sainz while lapping, Norris maintained his lead. Norris attributed his improved performance to hard work, both from himself and his engineers, focusing on extracting consistent performance from the challenging McLaren car.

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So, why? Just hard work. Hard work from my engineers and from myself to improve me as a driver and improve my driving. That is the answer.