Hungarian Grand Prix: Lando Norris cautions Lewis Hamilton despite qualifying.

Lando Norris took his first pole position of the year in Hungary, but is wary of following up his first win as world champion.

Perhaps the McLaren driver was casting his mind back to Miami in early May, when he led at the end of the first lap of the race, only for the team to make a strategic misstep and allow Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli to take the win.

“You can’t just rely on one good performance so I’m looking for a good race tomorrow,” Norris said.

“Obviously we have a good summer break, but after that we need to repeat and test a lot.

“We’ve been working hard, we know we’re on the back foot, but we’re making progress and today certainly shows that.”

Much of the focus at the Hungarian Grand Prix was on Aston Martin’s extensive upgrades to their car, which gave the struggling team a big step forward and allowed Fernando Alonso to miss his first qualifying time for the first time.

That means McLaren’s own upgrades have flown under the radar, but they’ve been effective.

Still, team leader Andrea Stella expressed his satisfaction with the improvements being able to tackle the unfamiliar pole, calling the Norris pole a “super achievement”.

McLaren’s own good qualifying performance was one of the reasons, he said, in addition to Ferrari’s underperformance, possibly Antonelli and Mercedes.

Ferrari enter Hungary as the favorites of most people, including McLaren, whose car is very quick in the corners, but lacks engine performance, and this is one of the least power-sensitive tracks on the calendar.

Lewis Hamilton was fastest after the first races in the final part of qualifying but did not improve in the final lap. Shortly after the finish, he blocked Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastre and the stewards issued a three-place grid penalty for disqualifying the Australian.

Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur took responsibility for failing to warn Hamilton in time.

After seven times world champion Posted on Instagram:, External “Sometimes you just can’t catch a break. Another weekend when I feel good all session, but it just falls apart.”

Referring to the penalties handed out in the previous two races in Britain and Belgium, Hamilton added: “I always do my best to be positive – sport always has highs and lows, but it’s on the edge. Every point is important and you have to take every opportunity. After three penalties in three weekends, it’s becoming difficult to maintain that positivity.

“I’m still not going to let the setback take away from the progress we’ve been making as a team. I hope we can get something out of the competition tomorrow at the pace we’re on.”