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McLaren had its strongest Friday of the 2022 Formula 1 season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in the top five in free practice two – and Norris splitting the Ferraris up front.
But both drivers ruled out any thoughts of a pole challenge.
Norris set the second-fastest time, lapping just 0.217s slower than pacesetter Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. He was backed up by Ricciardo in fifth, 0.427s down.
Neither expects McLaren to be in the pole position fight tomorrow despite the positive Friday, even though Norris believes the MCL36M is genuinely performing well at the Hungaroring.
Today’s performance level might also mean little for qualifying given the weather forecast is for rain on Saturday.
Asked by Sky Sports F1 if it would be possible to go for pole on Saturday, Norris replied “no” and suggested Friday afternoon had been a little deceptive.
“Things are feeling good, the car’s in a good place, it seems to be suiting this track characteristic a little bit more,” he said.
“But we’re always a little bit quicker in P2 than we end up being normally.
“We turn it up a little bit more than others do just to get a first reading on qualifying, which is what we got today.
“But we know everyone else – especially Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes – normally step it up a lot for tomorrow.
“We’re feeling good, I’m happy saying that the car’s in a reasonable position. We’re probably a little bit ahead of where we were in Paul Ricard but I’m not expecting to be fighting for pole or anything.
“We were in a better position than what we were.”
Norris was particularly strong in the first sector, where he set the quickest time of all with a time 0.252s faster than Leclerc.
The McLaren was clearly working particularly well in this sector given Ricciardo was the second-quickest through this part of the track, which runs from the start line to 85 metres before Turn 4.
Norris was almost half-a-second slower than Leclerc through the middle sector, where Ferrari was mighty throughout the day, and then similar on pace – just two hundredths slower – in the final sector. There was also a suspicion he may have exceeded track limits at the exit of the final corner, although his lap stood.
Ricciardo felt the car is working well and despite ruling out being in the hunt for pole position, is optimistic about the rest of the weekend.
He pointed to the fact McLaren was also strong in FP1, where Norris was fourth fastest, as supporting that.
“We were competitive this morning as well, so being competitive in both sessions hopefully says something,” said Ricciardo.
“It hopefully means that we actually are competitive. I don’t think we’re competitive [enough] to fight for a pole – sorry to the fans, I’m not being pessimistic, just realistic. They [the frontrunners] will probably find a little more on Saturday come crunch time.
“But it was a good day, we certainly hit the ground running and we’ll look into what happens tonight with the car and do a few bits and pieces I’m sure.
“I don’t know, I also have no reason to say that we can’t fight for the front tomorrow but obviously it’s only been a week since Le Castellet and you can only change so much.
“Maybe the track does suit us a little bit more. I’m sure we’ve made a step but probably not that big a step. But nonetheless a really good day.”
What really matters to McLaren is its pace relative to its main competitor – Alpine, which has a four-point lead in the battle for fourth in the constructors’ championship.
McLaren introduced a major upgrade for the last race in France, with Norris outqualifying both Alpines and lining up fifth on the grid. But he said McLaren’s weaknesses were “exposed” in race conditions having been masked on low fuel.
Although Norris slipped behind Fernando Alonso at the start and finished seventh behind the Alpine driver, he believed he would inevitably have been passed in the race at Paul Ricard even with a better first lap. Behind, Ricciardo was embroiled in a battle with the other Alpine of Esteban Ocon, who passed him for eighth despite having earlier served a five-second penalty in the pits.
But the long-run pace at the Hungaroring hinted that this pattern might not be repeated. While McLaren was around 1.3s off the race pace of Ferrari, it was fractionally quicker than Alpine.
McLaren would be delighted if that were to be proved an accurate predictor of race pace by how the rest of the weekend pans out, potentially allowing it to take the real prize not of pole position, but reclaiming fourth in the constructors’ championship.
